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.
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.
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.
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