The Oldest Political Wife is 94
A quintessential gemstone, Chief Mrs. Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo, matriarch of the Awolowo family, turned 94 last week Wednesday. With a noble birth and marriage to a sage, Chief Mrs. Hannah Idowu Dideolu (HID) Awolowo was sure to live a life worthy of emulation. An icon in every sense of the word, HID was born in 1910 to a middle class family in Ikenne community of Ogun State. By 1933; she was already married to Chief Obafemi Awolowo. At this time, she was just 22 and her husband 24 years. Her husband, she once recalled in an interview, had proposed to her through a letter. “In those days, a man would propose to you in writing.
Awo wrote a letter to me that he was in love with me and wanted to marry me, “she said. They both agreed to start a love affair which culminated in their wedding and subsequently, a new life as husband and wife. “We had a good beginning and I thank God for the good time we both spent together,” she further said in the interview. Shortly after their wedding, the new couple relocated to Ibadan. But in the late 1930’s, Awolowo left for London to study Law. He left behind his young wife and his baby boy, Segun. She was equally pregnant with Oluwole at the time. “I felt a bit lonely when he left for London but was content that it was for the good of the family,” HID said of their lives during the period. This jewel would always make reference to a remarkable event in their lives together that sometimes brings to mind the couple’s financial status during the period in question. The story goes thus: When Awolowo secured admission to study in London; the family had no money to pursue the course. “Awo wrote a letter to a prominent business man seeking financial assistance. I will not wish to mention the name.
The request was turned down. But we thank God for everything. He was the one who saw us through.” By the time he came back to the country, the political space had been dominated by Herbert Macaulay, an engineer, and Dr.Nnamdi Azikwe. But by 1948, when Egbe Omo Yoruba was launched by Awo and his friends, Hannah was on hand to play the role of the ideal partner. She went with her husband on the campaign trips and hosted political associates and other guests at home. She also accompanied him on many of such trips. Most outstanding was her unflinching support for her husband through a traumatic period in the Nigerian political history.
At this time, her husband was a major character on the national scene. In 1962, the arrest of her husband on allegation of treason was debilitating. She was with him when security operatives called to whisk him away. In 1954 when Awolowo became Premier of then old Western Region, he pursued a total transformation of this part of the country with unprecedented achievements that cut across board. He built the first TV station and the tallest building in sub-Saharan Africa. He built the citadel of learning located at Ile-Ife now the Obafemi Awolowo University. Every child in his region was given access to free and compulsory education. Several industrial estates were built including the Ikeja and Bodija Estates in Lagos and Ibadan respectively. The entire South West was also mapped into agrarian and industrial estates. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the time rated the region as being at par with many European countries in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and growth rate. In all of these, HID was never found wanting. She stood with and by her husband throughout all those years, providing and creating the atmosphere for him to function maximally.
Again, the early 1960’s was another era of travails for the Awolowos. The establishment had waged consistent propaganda, both on the radio and TV against the sage. But here, she remained the pillar of support that she had always been. She not only faced frustration from the political class, she also lost her first son, Segun, a lawyer in a ghastly motor accident along the Lagos-Ibadan road at a time her husband was serving a prison term for treason. She bore the troubles at that time with the passion of a Christian. The aftermath of the 1959 elections, during the Tafawa Balewa regime, believed to have been rigged, was also a difficult period for the couple. Awolowo was in his late 40s and his wife, in her mid-40s. The prevailing political situation at the time denied them the opportunity to be close. “They came with armed men and led him away,” she said. By 1966 when Nigeria recorded its first military coup and the subsequent equation change, Awolowo recorded a triumphant re-entry into Nigerian politics and was there-after appointed to assist in manning the finance ministry. For this period, things seemed to turn to normalcy for the Awolowos and the nation in general.
By the Second Republic, he returned to politics on the platform of Unity Party of Nigeria. He lost his attempts at the presidency to former President Shehu Shagari both in 1979 and 1983, under controversial circumstances. But since Awolowo heeded the call to eternal rest, his image has continued to dominate the land. Nigeria’s political history, certainly, would be incomplete without him, so also, the history of the Awolowo’s would remain incomplete without the impact of this inspiration who not only stood by him as a wife, but also as a sister, mother and remained the pillar of support to the family even years after the demise of the sage. Today, this woman of essence is a model, both locally and internationally, having sustained the philanthropic legacies of the family for this long.
Happy 94th birthday, Mama!