“The president noted that though the late Oluwole Awolowo died at the ripe age of 70, the circumstances surrounding his demise had made his exit extremely painful, adding that “ordinarily, for Oluwole who had survived 70 winters, one would have said that according to the Biblical injunction of three scores and 10, it is an age one would thank God to have attained, especially in a country where the average lifespan is quite below 50 years.
“But under the circumstances, the death is extremely painful to all of us. To me, I feel that with the way the Awolowo family has taken me as their own, I would have loved to be here almost everyday. Gbenga Daniel can attest to that.
“You have taken me as your own and this is not a period say it. I will have the opportunity to say that to the whole world one day,” he said.
President Jonathan noted that as a result of the consciousness that he was already a member of the Awolowo family, the first thing that came to his mind when he heard of the death of Chief Awolowo was the thought of Mama.
“I remain grateful to you for taking me as a part of the great Awolowo family. That is even one of the reasons that when I heard about the death, the first thing I asked is; ‘have you informed Mama?’ they said they had not informed her, but they were going to do that. Then, I said ‘Douglas, go to Lagos and go there with the team. Then, I will also find time to pay personal condolence to Mama and members of the family.
“I have already greeted the children; some of them are adults, while others are very young people that still need significant parental care. I agree with the Bishop when he said God knows best. He knows why He did this.
“Mama, it is painful but God knows best and we pray that you never witness any such incident again,” said the president.
JD:How sad!just out of curiosity can anyone guess what this statement is all about?
This is funny! What else did Goodluck Jonathan want to tell the world about his relatinnship with the Awolowo family? We know that he had Azikwe as one of his names. He could jolly well now add Awolowo and Bello and … Is Goodluck Jonathan now among the Awoists? Mere political statements! 2015 in mind!