HID Awolowo Dies At 99

The matriarch of the Awolowo family, Chief Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo, is dead. She died in her sleep at the age of 99, about two months to her 100th birthday. We gathered that the wife of the former premier of Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, died some hours ago. An official statement from the family is still being awaited.

The wife of the late premier of the defunct Western Region, passed on more than four years after rumours spread like wildfire around the country indicating she transited. That was on June 22, 2012.
The chairperson of the African Newspapers of Nigeria, died 28 years after her husband, Obafemi Awolowo, who fondly described her as his jewel of inestimable value, passed on.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a widely respected politician and Yoruba leader, died in 1987.

Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo (née Adelana) popularly known as HID was born on November 25, 1915 to a modest family in the small Ikenne community of Ogun State in Nigeria. She is the widow of politician Obafemi Awolowo, who famously referred to her as his "jewel of inestimable value". She was also a successful businesswoman and astute politician. She played an active role in the politics of Western Nigeria. She stood in for her husband in the alliance formed between the NCNC and the AG, called the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA), while he was tried and in jailed.

The plans were that she would contest the elections, and if she won, would step down for her husband in a by-election. To fulfil his dream of becoming president in the Second Republic, she toured the length and breadth of the country with her husband campaigning. She also coordinated the women's wing of the party and was always present at all party caucuses. A successful businesswoman, she became the first Nigerian distributor for the Nigerian Tobacco Company (NTC) in 1957. She was the first to import lace materials and other textiles into Nigeria.

September 19, 2015