When Chief Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo, popularly recognised by her initials, HID, is buried on November 25, the closure will open another chapter of post-Awoism after the death of her husband, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the legendary Nigerian political titan and progressive leader who died in 1987.
She lived to a ripe old age; her death on September 19 put a dampener on plans for the celebration of her 100th birthday on November 25. Hers was a long and eventful life, often of interest to the public because of its socio-political dimensions.
Famously described as “a jewel of inestimable value” by her husband, HID’s image glittered on account of the glowing commendation by the man she married in 1937 and stuck with until death separated them. In a moving and revealing testimonial, HID’s husband said of her: “She has been of immeasurable assistance to me in the duties attached to my career as a public man…I do not hesitate to confess that I owed my success in life to three factors; the grace of God, a Spartan self-discipline and a good wife. Our home is to all of us a true haven; a place of happiness, of imperturbable seclusion from the buffetings of life.”
But HID was also significant in her own right, beyond the glory of matrimony. Apart from her entrepreneurial spirit and success in business, she demonstrated a remarkable capacity for administration as the head of the African Newspapers Nigeria (ANN) Plc, Publisher of Tribune titles. The Nigerian Tribune, founded in 1949 by Chief Awolowo, is Nigeria’s oldest surviving private newspaper. Until she died, HID kept the company’s flag flying, but not without some cost to her husband’s principles and the newspaper’s image.
It is a reflection of not only her husband’s legacy but also her own personal worth that when she was alive her family home in Ikenne, Ogun State, was a mecca for various shades of political players who desired her support in pursuance of their political ambitions. She was politically accommodating, and the variegated complexion of the sympathisers drawn to her home by the news of her death spoke volumes about her politics of inclusiveness.
It is noteworthy that President Muhammadu Buhari said in a tribute: “Chief (Mrs.) Awolowo will always be honoured too for the indelible legacy of very significant, behind-the-scenes contributions to communal, state, regional and national development.” This aspect of her life was also highlighted in a tribute by a former executive director of AAN Plc, Mr. Folu Olamiti, who said: “A good number of position papers meant to strengthen the southwest geo-political zone and the need to promote the unity of Nigeria were formulated in Ikenne, her home.”
Her many-sided life had a notable cultural angle. The matriarch was a well-respected traditional title holder; and her major title, Yeye Oodua, suggesting that she was regarded as a mother figure by the Yoruba people, reflected her wide cultural significance in her native Yoruba environment. In this connection, HID was co-chairman of the Yoruba Unity Forum formed to protect and advance Yoruba interests within the country’s framework.
In the context of impermanence, it is food for thought that the socio-political philosophy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, on account of which he earned die-hard loyalists as well as unrepentant adversaries, may be further revised after HID. While she was alive, the calculating redefinition of progressivism implied by the cohabitation of varied political impulses under the banner of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) marked a revision. It is indisputable that a major constituent of the party, the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), to a large extent associated withAwoism, a tendency that the other parties involved in the merger that produced the APC did not necessarily embrace.
Awolowo, practising his doctrine of “mental magnitude”, truly demonstrated uncommon concentration on the improvement of the mind as an invaluable training for leadership, particularly by his deep writings on his socio-political thoughts intended as illuminating guides on the subject of good governance in a pluralistic society. He was popularly and rightly regarded as a “philosopher king” and “sage”, which underscored his towering intellect employed in the context of political administration. It is an intriguing measure of the Awolowo mystique and influence that in certain quarters the belief in Awoism, or the branding as an Awoist, is regarded as a qualification for political leadership.
Tragically, the important connection between cerebral acuity and forward-looking people-oriented governmental policies, particularly in the areas of education, health and infrastructure, which Awolowo reflected, is today generally less appreciated among the political players, especially with the reign of “negative emotions” that inspire basic personal aggrandisement.
Additionally, in character and lifestyle, his sometimes impolitic directness, informed by well- meaning sincerity, as well as his Spartan existence, despite his means, placed him in an inimitable class. The doublespeak associated with characters in politics did not have an accommodation with him, and the people knew where he stood on issues, even when this worked against him. Fascinatingly, he lived above fleshly indulgence, and was not a materialistic exhibitionist, contrary to the ways of many who govern today.
Another central point of departure has to do with Awolowo’s stature as the soul of the political parties he originated, namely, the Action Group (AG) and the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), in which he commanded overwhelming authority. Current realities, specifically in connection with the APC, suggest that the kind of vice-like grip he had on party affairs probably belongs to a bygone age.
Perhaps the greatest charge against him, even among his followers, was his principled inflexibility and customary conviction about his correctness, which his political foes often interpreted as haughtiness. Perhaps his supreme moment came at his death with the outpouring of flattering tributes from friendly and hostile quarters, especially the one which eloquently described him as “the best president Nigeria never had.”
The burden of continuity must rest upon the two institutions established to promote his ideals, the Obafemi Awolowo Institute of Government and Public Policy, Lagos, and the Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo.
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