WhEN HID WISHED HER HUSBAND a “deep sleep” on the night of May 8, 1987 as they departed for their separate bedrooms, she could not have imagined that that would be her eternal goodbye to the man she married a little less than fifty years earlier.
“A sun wo o”
They both laughed.
They had both said goodnight in their Remo dialect, only for HID to return to her husband to affectionately say another goodnight in the native argot of Ibadan, the city that defined most of their private and public lives together. “A sun wo o”, was the Ibadan’s way of wishing one another a deep, undisturbed sleep. It was also a prayer against any untoward incident, particularly an idagiri (emergency), in the night.
Before they said goodnight, they had chatted as they sat together by the door adjoining their individual rooms while HID packed a few items for the wedding of the daughter of Otunba Biyi Durojaiye which she planned to attend the next morning. At the urging of HID, Chief Awolowo had been advised by his doctor to take some rest and stay upstairs in their house on Ajina Street, Ikenne. He was 78 the previous March, and age was beginning to tell on him.The exhausting physical and relentless mental exertions over the many decades had evidentlyweakened the man who is popularly regarded as a sage – the only Nigerian leader to be so described in the history of the country. He was becoming weak.
His last public appearance was at the coronation of the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse II, on Saturday, May 2, 1987. That day, for the first time in their entire life together as HID revealed, Awolowo slept off publicly. He had been sick but insisted on attending the ceremony given his relationship with the Itshekiri people. She tried to wake him when the former Governor of Oyo State, Chief Bola Igi, approached to talk to him. “My leader, my leader”, Igi called him. But his leader was asleep. Even when HID tapped him to call his attention to Ige, he barely heard her.
“When we started the ceremony, the Association of Warri Women began to sing and dance, but Papa was sleeping. This was unusual of him. Throughout the ceremony, Papa was sleeping! This had never happened before”, writes Chief (Mrs.) Awolowo.
On their return trip, HID was also struck by the fact that he slept from Warri to Ikenne. She felt that he was exhausted and needed a long stretch of rest, away from reading, writing and meeting people. But the Association of Jerusalem Pilgrims were waiting at home to meet them when they arrived at 11pm. Even though he was tired, they met them at Efunyela Hall.
The next day, a Sunday, they attended service at St Saviour’s. After the service, the JPs, as the Jerusalem Pilgrims were called, were hosted to lunch at Efunyela’s hall. At the reception, HID spoke to the JPs. Afterwards, Awolowo insisted that he wanted to speak too. His wife wondered what he wanted to add. After talking about Christian devotion, Awolowo rendered a parable.
“When a snake sheds its skin and you see it lying on the ground, you may think you are seeing a snake or that a snake is still there. Don’t be fooled by what you see, because the snake is gone. Only the skin is there as a camouflage. The snake is gone and you will never see the snake again”, the sage told the audience.
The parable escaped everyone, including HID.
“After the grace had been said, the next thing he did was to go to the entrance and shake hands with everyone”, discloses HID.
Awolowo said “o dabo” (“goodbye”) to each of the JPs. It was goodbye forever……
The following Friday, May 8, his long-time friend, Alhaji S.O. Gbadamosi, showed up for dinner and they reminisced over the past. Gbadamosi left later in the night.
The next morning, HID noticed that the light was on in his room. That was an indication that he was up. He never slept with the lights on. When he woke up, he went through his morning ritual of daily prayers and meditation before having a shower. He only locked the door in the morning after he woke up, so as to remain undisturbed by his grandchildren, Oluwole’s children, who often rushed into their grandfather’s room whenever they were up. He needed his privacy early in the morning and his wife understood that.
HID went on with her preparations for the wedding.
Usually, Awolowo would come out of his room to have breakfast at the table upstairs around half past eight in the morning. When it was past that time, HID asked one of the male assistants in the house where he was. He replied that he was still in his room.
“Papa woke up around 3 a.m and locked his door. When it was 9 a.m. and I wanted to say bye to Papa…. I found the door locked…..
There was no response when she knocked. It shouldn’t take that long for Awolowo to be ready for breakfast. At any rate, he would have responded to her, even if he wasn’t ready.
HID grew worried. By this time, Awolowo’s sister, Alhaja Awofeso had arrived. She was surprised to find that her sister-in-law had not left for Lagos. They both knocked more loudly, raising some alarm. Still no response.
HID then asked the senior driver to bring a cutlass so that they could force the door open. It was now clear that something serious, if not tragic, had happened inside the great man’s room.
“As the door was forced open, and I saw how he slumped helplessly, I knew the worst had occurred”, disclosed HID.
He was holding his toothbrush.
“I rushed to him. With the help of his senior driver and his sister, Alhaja Anotu Awofeso, we lifted him up to his bed. Then I grabbed him and noticed that his body was still warm, I tried all I could to bring him back to life but to no avail. I still believed he would come around when shaking him and calling Papa Segun! Papa Segun!!”
HID and her husband had not called each other by the name of their deceased first child in more than two decades.
Though she could see that he was gone, she was in disbelief. She sent for his doctor.
“I still nursed the hope that he will be revived. And I was saying so many words to him”.
The doctor, Dr. Bayo Yusuf, arrived. He confirmed that Awolowo was dead…
TO BE CONTINUED
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