Gender and the politics of turmoil

FOR her, it was not only Obafemi who was experiencing the succession of humiliation and harassment. They were experiencing it together. They were indissoluble; thus, whatever happened to one, happened to the other.

But she was determined to weather the storm. She was also unbending in her trust in God.

“By God’s grace,” she declares to her husband, not to console, but to encourage him, “we will prevail over the wicked ones and all those who do evil to us”.

ObofemiAwolowo didn’t want his wife to follow him to court that morning. But she insisted and drove behind the convoy of police vehicles that led her husband to court….

When Hannah returned to their official residence at Bell Avenue, Ikoyi, at the end of court session, her distress was compounded. If she had assumed that the process of the trial of her husband that started that morning with his arrest and arraignment for treasonable felony would be conducted by the ruling political party with all the pretensions to propriety and legality, the reality that confronted her when she returned to the official residence ended her assumptions.

But she had had some foreboding through a dream the preceding night. Yet, she had “prayed it out”, asking in the spirit of Henry Francis Lyte immortal song “What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?” Therefore, when Lynn and the other police officer arrived in the morning to arrest her husband, she knew what she had feared when she prayed fervently to God by the beach at Lekki a few months earlier was coming to pass.

Still, her resolve not to let the wind of adversity carry her away stood. Nonetheless, she and her husband were hoping that he would be released on bail after the proceedings at the High Court. But, as prearranged by the power that-be, the judge ordered that he be remanded at the Broad Street Prison.

Her first son, Segun, who was called to the bar only recently, joined her shortly before she left for the court. They drove together to the court. They also followed their husband and father, respectively, to the Broad Street Prison, where he asked her to go back to Bell Avenue to bring him lunch.

When Hannah returned to the residence, she found that their tenancy had expired, or so those in power had resolved. She arrived back in the house where Awolowo had been under house arrest since September 22, 1962 only to find that the barbed wires which surrounded the house had been removed. They were installed upon Awolowo’s restriction, the first signal that he was notionally already in jail. Now, there was no longer any need for the barbed wires since the man was truly in jail. The house had also been ransacked with the electricity turned off. It was an unmistakable message.

Yet, Hannah had no immediate alternative. Therefore, she had to sleep in darkness from Friday, November 1 to Sunday, November 4, 1962, when she found alternative accommodation.

“This was the greatest humiliation….” Recalls Hannah.

In the meantime, what was she to do? Her husband was waiting for his lunch. It was clear that this was no longer home. But first, lunch for her husband in detention. She prepared lunch and took the food back to Broad Street Prisons, where she also informed her husband about the development in the residence.

One of the most interesting experiences the couple had was that he could not consume the food she prepared without her tasting it in the presence of the prison officials. It was a precaution against Hannah poisoning her husband in what could be an attempt as “assisted suicide”. Also, every conversation had to be to the hearing of a prison official.

Despite this, Hannah believed that what she needed was temporary accommodation since she was convinced that it will not be long before her husband would be granted bail. Momentarily, she remembered that she was initially opposed to living in Bell Aenue, the official quarters provided for the Leader of Opposition in the Federal Parliament. When the Prime Minister, Balewa, offered the official residence, Hannah tried to dissuade her husband. He shared her concern. However, he felt that it would be discourteous to the prime minister to refuse, since he made the offer without his request. Hannah preferred that they lived in their own house always, so that there will be no need to move out of official accommodation when they left office. She later mused when he was restricted to the official residence barely four months after they moved in that his first official residence had turned into a “prison”. She vowed never to live in an official residence again the rest of her life.

As news of his detention spread, family members started showing up to offer assistance. The most significant help she got was from her sister-in-law, Awolowo’s only surviving sibling, and Hannah’s age-mate, Alhaja Anotu Awofeso. Born Victoria Olufunmilayo Awolowo, she converted to Islam when she married the Ijebu-Ode-born Awofeso, dropping Victoria for Anotu. She moved to Bell Avenue to be with her sister-in-law. Also, Mrs. D.O. Sogbesan joined them to do all the running around needed.

After a few days, Hannah rented a flat on Bode Thomas Street, Somolu, owned by Chief Julius Odeku. Although Chief Odeku demanded and accepted the rent, he apprised every one of his “generosity” to Awolowo’s wife by giving her a flat “gratis”. He claimed it as his token contribution to helping the family cope with adversity.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

EBINO TOPSY – 0805-500-1735 (SMS ONLY PLEASE)

 

 

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