ABEOKUTA— PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, said yesterday, that he regretted that the matriarch of the Awolowo dynasty, Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo, did not live to witness the transformation and positive change the country would be experiencing soon.
Buhari said this through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir David Lawal, who led the government’s delegation to the Ikenne residence of the Awolowos, to commiserate with them over the death of the Yeye Oodua. Other members of the delegation were the Chief of Staff to the President, Malam Abba Kyari, Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin and former SGF, Alhaji Baba Gana Kingibe.
He maintained that Mama did not “feel” the change where her son-in-law, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and his wife, Dolapo who is her grand daughter were key players. The president said, “Our regret in government is that Mama did not live long enough to feel the transformation this country will undergo with the active participation of her son-in-law, with the active participation of her grand daughter.
This is something that saddens us. Had she waited well for one or two more years, I’m sure she would have left this world a very happy woman indeed, because the fulfilment of what her husband stood for would have finally come to fruition.” He promised the readiness of the FG to participate fully in her burial arrangements if the family is gracious enough to give him the opportunity to so do.
Sense of loss
So, we ask our brother, our son, the vice president to relate this message to him. We are mourning at the moment, although we celebrate Mama at this time. For some of us, Mama knew us even when we were born. I don’t even know how to describe the sense of loss because Mama has always been there. Whenever you thought about home, be rest assured that Mama will be there.
Even when Papa was not around, Mama was always there, always available, always around. I think that one of the great things that has been said is about her great love for people.” Other visitors include the former Judge of the Hague, Prince Bola Ajibola, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the Ajalorun of Ijebu-Ife, Oba Adesesan Oguntayo and the Bishop of the Diocese of Egba, The Right Reverend Oludaisi Adekunle.
Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, who is a son-in-law to the deceased also spoke in the presence of hundreds of symphatisers who gathered in honour of the deceased at the Efunyela Hall, yesterday. While describing late HID as a repository of knowledge and a custodian of information, the vice-president, who was there with his wife, Dolapo, who is a grand daughter of HID said that Mama was an important part of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
He said,“She was always very caring, devoted and loving. We all know that she stood by papa so solidly that he had to describe her as the most important part of his life. He said repeatedly aside from describing her as her jewel of inestimable value that he would not know what he could have done without her but she survived him and lived so long thereafter.
“She lived for this nation, everyday of her life. She wanted to see a great nation and I know that she had begun to see that great nation, the evolution of this nation in the past years has shown that we are on the right path and we would get there. I believe that her memory will be best served by the kind of nation we would want to see- a united nation; a nation where we don’t identify ourselves by our tribes and where we all know that we are all Nigerians, that is the kind of nation that she lived for.”
Others who also paid condolence visit to Awolowo family included an elder statesman, and first civilian governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ebenezer Babatope. Also the All Progressives Congress leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former APC chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, and governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko.Chief (Mrs) Hannah Dideolu Awolowo died on Saturday at 3.15pm, in her Ikenne home. Also known Yeye Oodua, who would have been 100 years on November 25, she was said to have attended a meeting of her forthcoming centenary birthday, before retiring into her room, where she breathed her last.
A statement signed by her eldest daughter, Mrs Omotola Oyediran, on behalf of the family, said she died gloriously having spent the last day in the company of her children, grand children, great grand children and close family members.While extolling the virtues of the matriarch, Alhaji Jakande, also known as ‘Baba kekere’ described the late HID as a virtuous woman with rare qualities, which qualified her to make her late husband refer to her as “a jewel of inestimable value.”
He said she represented a woman who was so devoted to her husband, and stood by him and his political associates during their treasonable felony trials.Jakande said, “she is an unforgettable woman, an example of good virtues who worked tirelessly for Yorubaland and Nigeria as a whole. She stood by us in the days of our political trials.” Babatope, on his own part, said he was in shock when he heard the news of her death. He equally noted that she was an understanding wife who stood by her husband, through thick and thin.
Good governance
In the same vein, Governor Mimiko of Ondo State said that when viewed from the political angle, the Awolowo family represents default option in good governance, and HID stood as the second leg of that synergy.National leader and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, described her as the best gift to humanity, a nationalist and a great mother. He said, “she filled the vacuum left by the death of Papa. She was irrevocably committed to one Nigeria, education and the right of women. We will continue to work to keep her memory alive.”
A former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, said he would miss Mama’s food, stressing that he ate best meals in Mama’s house. Other dignitaries who paid condolence visit to the family include Senators Jubril Martins-Kuye, Biyi Durojaiye, Iyiola Omisore, Adegbenga Kaka and Anthony Adefuye.
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