Obi Wali was born on 27 February 1932 in Rumuigbo) Town, headquarters of Aparo Kingdom, in Obio Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.

His parents were Late Chief Frank Wali Otogbo and Late Mrs. Jane Wali Otogbo daughter of the famous Late Chief Ezebunwo Amadi wondugba, the then paramount ruler of Oroworukwo Rebisi in Port Harcourt Local Government Area of Rivers State.

It He had a younger sibling, Late Mrs. Patience Waku Okabie Worgu.

He was educated at the West African People’s Institute, Calabar, followed by St. Augustine’s Secondary School, Nkwerre.

For his higher education, he attended the University College Ibadan, where he specialized in literature. He then continued his studies in the United States, where he obtained a doctorate in literature.

Wali was one of the founding fathers of Rivers State in Nigeria and served as the first Commissioner for Education, as well as a member of the first executive council of the state.

He was later elected as a member of the 1978 Constituent Assembly and also as a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee that drafted the 1979 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He was elected as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the Second Republic and 1980 he was elected the Minority Leader of the House of Senate, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Wali fought for the creation of Port Harcourt from Rivers (bayelsa).

After the civil war, the Ijaws in the old Rivers took over from Igbos (ikwerre).

They were marginalized and were not allowed to work in the oil refinery because they were Igbos.
Obi Wali with his political position helped formed the ethnicity, because of the situation of the Igbo people in Nigeria then.

Ikwerre was formed so the people can get jobs (Igbos were not employed or allowed to have bank accounts).

Obi created Port Harcourt out of old Rivers (Bayelsa) because they were marginalized by the old Rivers government.

Wali was violently murdered and dismembered at home in his bedroom by suspected hired assassins on 26 April 1993.

The reasons for the murder remain unestablished; however, many speculated that it was in connection with his political opinions.

At the time of his murder, Wali was a respected Nigerian Senator of Rivers State.

He was later buried on 24 February 1994. This was not long before the Nigerian state executed another minority rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa.

General Ibrahim Babangida (former Nigerian Military Head of State), Chief Rufus Ada George (former Governor of Rivers State), and Peter Odili (then Governor of Rivers State) among others were accused of complicity in Wali’s murder in Port Harcourt.

The case of Wali’s murder was brought before a commission investigating human rights abuses, before which allegations of a cover-up were forwarded by the Ikwere Community and Wali’s son, Ihumuo, along with his wife Nnenna.
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