Awolowo had given indication that he was hoping to depart soon. On his last birthday on March 6, 1987, he had said that “What I am celebrating actually is the imminence of my transition to eternal life. The fact that I am happy to celebrate it means that the great beyond must be a happy place”.
He had added that even though he didn’t realize the ambition to serve Nigeria as the head of government, his earthly accomplishment constituted a “source of internal joy to me”. He concluded that “I have a strong conviction in life after death and the possibility of continuing to serve even after death”.
The whole country descended on Ikenne as news of Awolowo’s death spread. By the tenth day of Awo’s death, no less than 200,000 people had visited his widow in Ikenne.
But unknown to the august visitors who paid condolence visits to HID in Ikenne , she was in denial for days. But she remembered that her husband had enjoined her not to sorrow after his death.
“He said we should not cry, but sing songs of praise and joy for he lived to conquer”, HID told everyone who had come to commiserate with her in Efunyela Hall the day after Awolowo’s demise. But as she said that, her sister-in-law burst into tears. Many others were in tears. The widow too had a ready handkerchief to wipe away tears.
As it happened when her son, Segun, died twenty four years earlier, doctors wanted to sedate her to relieve the shock of her husband’s passing.
“I don’t need it”, she said. “Papa won’t be happy to see me sleeping. I want to be up (to) see everything that is being done to honour him.”
Tributes came from all over the world, as Wole Soyinka, who won the Nobel prize in literature the previous year expressed “intense anger”. “he was a great talent, but he was wasted. His death is a disaster for the nation and the whole world”, he said. The London Times agreed with Soyinka. The paper described Awolowo as “one of the most effective black politicians of Africa”, adding that “he was denied the leadership of Nigeria, which his talents probably entitled him to”.
Burial was fixed for June 6. In the interim period, HID got to know the measure of her worth and the adoration that many people had for her husband, both privately and publicly. At the private level, many women, including her friends and contemporaries and those who considered themselves her “children”, including the wives of Awolowo’sassociates moved to Ikenne to stay with her. These included Mrs. AdunAjayi (wife of Sir OlaniwunAjayi), Christiana Adebanjo (Chief Ayo Adebanjo’s wife), Mrs. Adewunmi (Chief Bola Adewunmi’s wife), and others such as Mrs. OluremiOsinbajo. Many nights after Awolowo’s death, HID and the women stayed awake throughout the night.
“We were there for about three months before we left. But we ensured she was stable before we left her. She has remained grateful to all of us for that”, states Mrs. Osinbajo.
Awolowo’s burial was one like no other in Nigeria’s political history. Even Awolowo’s adversaries acknowledged that nothing of that sort had ever happened in Nigeria’s history and may not happen again. Service of songs was held in Lagos, Ibadan and ikenne from June 1 – 5. Wake service was held in Ikenne on June 5. Lying-in-state was held in Lagos, Ibadan and Ikenne.
Meanwhile, the late sage’s widow promised to sustain the heritage in Awo’s absence. Indeed, she had done so in the past. Everyone was reminded by Ebenezer Babatope, former Director of Organisation of the UPN, of her role between 1962 and 1966, when Awo was in detention and prison.
But this was a totally different experience. His journey to prison was one that had a terminal date. The latest journey was one from which he would never return.
“I will do my best not to disappoint his teeming admirers”, she promised. “I promised to keep Papa’s flag flying”.
Her challenge was not just political heritage which he bequeathed. There we projects he left uncompleted, particularly the Dideolu Specialist Hospital, which he planned to build in her honour, and the huge family – which many assumed would become a political dynasty – which she had to take lead of and continue to nurture. Awo was also looking forward to the fortieth anniversary of the founding of Tribune. Therefore, while some feared that she might not be able to live for long after her husband died, HID said she needed to be alive to complete some of his unrealized dreams and take care of the family he left behind.
With Awolowo’s embalmed body resting in the mausoleum that was constructed in the premises of their Ikenne home, the youngest of the grandchildren were asking HID “when Papa would wake up and get out of that thing’ (the coffin) and come to the house to play with them”.
As HID prepared to celebrate the first posthumous birthday of her husband in March 1988, she told Tribune: “I have got to live because I still want to help my children. We have already got a great grandchild since he left. I still want to help them and to support them and see that they achieve comfortable positions in life. Although, I still have problems, I am praying fervently that God would still give me more grace and the strength to live up to expectation”.
“I think Papa made adequate preparations for the immortalization of his name by planning the Dideolu Specialist Hospital”, HID told Vanguard, on the first anniversary of Awo’sdeath. “What we can do now is to put in our efforts to make his dreams a reality”.
When Awo first conceived the idea of the Dideolu Specialist Hospital (DSH), Ikenne, he did not tell his wife. The hospital was modeled afer the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, a non-profit media practice and medical research group that is the first and largest of its kind in the world. It was started by Dr. William Worrall Mayo’s sons and others. Having failed to achieve his ambition for national transformation, Awolowo decided to spend the rest of his life accomplishing what he could at personal level, perhaps also to show the world the possibilities that had been annulled by the phalanx of forces from colonial to post-colonial periods who conspired to ensure that, as OlusegunObasanjo, as head of the military regime unashamedly put it, “the best candidate may not win”.
As he began the process of realizing the dream, Awo’sexpansive vision for Nigeria which had the full backing of his wife at the practical level. The couple used to visit the Mayo Clinic. It struck Awolowo that it was not impossible to replicate it in Nigeria. As Premier of the Western Region, he had done similar things with television, housing and industrial estate, education, etc. However, since he failed to win the presidency so as to accomplish this and other dimensions of his transformational agenda for Nigeria, he considered what he could do with the example of the Clinic.
“Papa and myself used to visit Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in the U.S” disclosed the matriarch. “It is the best clinic in the world, we used to go there for our own check-up. So, it was from there that Papa and I began to think. And Papa, most especially, thought that there was no reason why Nigeria could not have such hospital, so that people would not have to be travelling….from Nigeria to either England or America to somewhere (else) to have their treatment done…. As, you know, when Papa thought of something, about something, he would have to do something about it.
TO BE CONTINUED
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