Wale Adebanwi on Mama HID (36)

A diamond head: The jewel and the lion (HID)

Despite  HID’s resoluteness and astuteness throughout the grueling period, between November 1962 and August 1966, she would have suffered the complete compromise of her elaborate and painstaking protection of Obafemi Awolowo’s innocence and cause on the eve of the Supreme Court’s judgment on the appeal.

As discussed in Chapter 5, the loathsome police chief, John Lynn, returned to the Awolowos’ Oke-Ado house on June 30, the eve of the judgment on the appeal filed by Awolowo and others who were convicted on the treasonable felony case. It was his twenty-first search. He had come with a team of policemen to disrupt the night prayer in the Awolowo household. HID saw the visit on the eve of the judgment on the appeal as a bad omen. As Awolowos’ nephew, Abimbola Awofeso was taunting Lynn to look into the pot of stew in his search for arms, HID could not understand the purpose of the search since the government could not present new evidence in the court before the judgment was delivered.

The next morning, that is, on July 1, 1963, her husband was informed about this by two warders who knew some of the policemen that carried out the raid in Ibadan. He later wrote that “I was disturbed by the news. Was my wife going to be the direct target of my adversaries’ evil machinations?”

The reason for Lynn’s last search eventually became known to Hannah and her husband, long after the Irish hireling had ended his obnoxious assignment.

The Balewa administration, the ruling party, the NPC, and their allies in the Western Region, the Akintola-led NNDP, were worried by the rising profile of Awolowo among his people who had come to see him as a symbol of crass injustice. Most people in the region did not believe that Awolowo was guilty of any crimes against the state. The allegations were popularly regarded as excuses to take a feared, but popular, political adversary out of circulation. This worried Akintola and his handlers in Lagos and Kaduna. Therefore, they decided that something critical had to be done to destroy Awolowo’s credibility totally, so that the plan to end his political career through the imprisonment could be successful. Once the people turned against him, they could do whatever they wanted with him.

Consequently, a plan was hatched to ensure credibility for the allegations of gun-running and plot to overthrow the government. They knew that the Supreme Court would dismiss Awolowo’s appeal on July 1, 1964. But they decided to wait until the eve of the judgment before executing their diabolical plan.

The target was HID, the loyal and uncompromising wife of the jailed politician. According to Awolowo, Akintola coordinated the plans in Ibadan. He recruited two stalwarts of the NNDP and provided them with sophisticated arms and ammunition. These two used to be members of the AG and knew the Awolowos’ compound in Oke-Ado, Ibadan, very well. The place was largely unprotected; no high walls or massive gates, not even a security guard there. People went in and out freely. The party stalwarts were to hide the arms and ammunitions in the compound late in the evening of June 30 and report back. It was expected that there will be little time for HID and her relations to discover the weapons before Lynn and his team would arrive later in the night to “catch” HID “red-handed”. Before this happened, the NNDP had asked one of its stalwarts to travel to Lagos to swear to an affidavit that there were arms and ammunitions in the compound. That would constitute the legal basis for the police raid. Once Lynn and his team found the weapons, they will display them to the press the next morning as evidence. The line they had planned to sell to the world, particularly the people of the Western Region was that, despite his conviction, imprisonment and, his pending appeal, Awolowo, in collaboration with his “obstinate” and “criminally-inclined” wife, Hannah, “continued….to make plans for the violent overthrow of the Federal Government.” They expected that after this “revelation”, Awolowo’s supporters “would lose sympathy for” him, concluding that he was “overdoing things to the detriment of the country and people”.

The party stalwarts reported back to Akintola around 8p.m that they had dumped the weapons at the Awolowos. Lynn got the green light and proceeded from Lagos. This was the reason for his arrival around 11p.m at the home of the Awolowos.

He was so sure of his mission, but was stunned when he didn’t find the weapons because he had been assured by the Premier himself that they were there. He therefore turned the house upside down, thinking that perhaps the Awolowos discovered the arms and ammunitions hidden in their compound late and decided to hide them so as to dispose them off later. He was beside himself with rage as he searched closets, under the bed, and every nook and cranny to no avail. In frustration, he and his men left.

Unknown to Akintola, the party stalwarts, who were well paid for the job, had reflected over the assignment and convinced themselves that it was an evil plot in which they would have no part. They had nothing against Awolowo whom they had worked with as AG leader. They only joined Akintola’s NNDP because of greater monetary reward. This diabolical plan was absolutely beyond their pale. But they realized that if they turned down the request, Akintola would find others to execute his plan, and also fire them. They, therefore, resolved to accept the task, but dump the arms and ammunitions elsewhere. So, they took delivery of the arms and ammunitions, but dumped them somewhere in Odo Ona Kekere, a river on the Ibadan-Ijebu-Ode-Lagos road.

This time, HID was not even aware of what was afoot. Perhaps, she could even have been put to trial for being an accessory to treasonable felony. She and her husband were only lucky that their adversaries couldn’t find willing tools like Lynn. Otherwise…..

“MY BELOVED MAMA SEGUN, I learnt that you had been ill. I was upset. But I am happy to hear that you have improved considerably. Your health and your life mean almost everything to me. I must say categorically that life would mean nothing to me without you and our children and grandchildren…..”

This was how Awolowo began one of the most important letters that he would ever write to his wife, particularly in the darkest hour of tribulations. He wrote the letter as he waited for the judgment of the Supreme Court. He was afraid that if his appeal was dismissed, in the course of his imprisonment, his adversaries might kill him while putting out a story that he was trying to commit suicide. He, therefore, decided to write to HID to “disburse my mind completely to her as to what I thought she might do if certain eventualities occurred”.

If he was unsuccessful at the Supreme Court, Awolowo asked Hannah to “take it like a brave woman that you are,” assuring her that that “would not be the end for me”. The best is yet to be,” he added.

“This much I want you to bear in mind; If you heard that I died, you could be sure that my enemies had killed me. I say this because after committing this heinous crime, these evil people might issue a release that I committed suicide, or that I died or was killed when I was trying to escape lawful custody…. I have great hopes for the future, and I am determined to live,” Awolowo declared in the letter.

After dealing with political matters regarding what HID should do with the proposed AG/NCNC alliance and the coming elections, while encouraging her to be “moving spirit” of the organization of the Women’s Wing of the AG, Awolowo turned to family matters. He implored HID “not to lose hope at all”. He further entreated her to “concentrate on your business and Church duties”.

He then discussed the four children and grandchildren and what needed to be done about each of them, including their personal prospects and schooling. By this time, Tola was married, Wole had left school and was living in Ikenne, while Ayo and Tokunbo were getting ready for college. The loving father stated in the letter that he was sure her eldest daughter could fend for herself, praying that “it may please God to bless the union between her and Kayode (Oyediran) with undying love and with children”. He acknowledged the crisis in the life of his 20-year old only surviving son, but prayed “fervently that it may please God to direct him aright and help him make a success of his life”. As for Ayo and Tokunbo, he ventured that it should be easy for HID to arrange for admission for them when they are ready at the Universities in Lagos and Ibadan, respectively.

When HID read the letter, though he had urged her “not to be sad about the contents of this letter” or “shed tears”, she broke into tears. But she quickly got over it and braced herself for what the future held in store for her and her “ever devoted and affectionate husband…..”

TO BE CONTINUED

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