Mama Hannah Idowu Dideolu  Awolowo

The death of Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo on Saturday, September 19, marked the end of an era in Nigeria politics. Some weeks shy of her 100th birthday, hers, from all indication, was indeed life well spent. This newspaper had written an obituary on the woman behind the Awolowo political machine, but this piece couldn’t be too much for an homage to a strong woman.

Even though one can pardon President Muhammadu Buhari for seeking to make political capital of Mama’s death as reflected in his condolence message that her exit would prevent her from witnessing the changes his government would bring to our nation, the reality is that she had played her role well as the power behind a man someone described as “the main issue in Nigeria politics”.

I hope I’m wrong on this,but I don’t think Nigerians have given enough credit to this woman who through thick and thin stuck with her husband and kept the home front well for him to continue his political odyssey. In a patriarchal society like ours where women are often derided and their contributions unacknowledged, late Obafemi Awolowo broke away from tradition by never ceasing to mention the contributions of his wife to his life especially while studying for a law degree in London and during the treasonable felony trial that landed him in Calabar prisons. His autobiography, My March Through Prison, pays homage to the woman who he nearly not married.  Little wonder that he enriched our lexicon with that phrase, ‘my jewel of inestimable value’ which showed the worth and value he placed on HID.

We often talk of the cerebral and articulate Awolowo but there could have been no papa without mama.

I’m always intrigued that till today there has been no evidence of marital infidelity of Obafemi Awolowo even when there were insinuations that he had a child out of wedlock who nobody had been able to show the world. A possibility of how the man was able to keep his libido in check must be the peace and tranquility his wife offered him at the home front. Little wonder that current day politicians that cannot zip up properly have not been able to show us the rigour and seriousness that governance demand. Many of them especially in the south west want to be like Awolowo by dressing like him or pretending to dream big dreams like he did as a politician, but they cannot even manage their homes well. Yes, polygamy is a way of life in this part of the world but it is unimaginable that the reported sexual orgies and lasciviousness that are common features in some government houses these days would have happened at Agodi , Ibadan under Awolowo. There must have been something soothing and calming that HID offered her husband that kept him devoted to her until he died on May 9, 1987.

I’ve always believed that it is a political tragedy for those Nigerians who did not witness Awolowo, the politician, in public office or campaigning for votes across the country as opposed to Lilliputians parading the corridors of power now. He gave his wife prominence in his affairs and campaign grounds were not off limits for her. While the man was extremely disciplined with a life bordering on asceticism, how come she did not push to be a candidate in any of the parties her husband led? Or maybe she did but we have not been told though it is doubtful his opponents would not have used this to campaign against him. She recognized her role well and stuck to her lines contented to be the wick adjusting her husband’s political flame away from the limelight.

This should not be interpreted as advocating for a doormat wife but only recognizing the contentment and joy with which HID played her roles as wife to a politician like Awolowo. How many wives of today’s politicians would endure the trauma of their husbands being jailed after a political trial? Awolowo was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 1963 until the government of General Yakubu Gowon released him in 1966. She also served as a rallying point for the wives of her husband’s political associates who were jailed with him in the same treasonable felony trial. How easy would it be too being the wife of a man who must always ‘take’ her kitchen around, as the man would not eat outside his house?

Too often men like to brag about how we are in control of our lives but the lives of great men would reveal that their wives were actually the power behind the scene, Obafemi Awolowo’s wife was not different. She continued to oil her husband’s political machine even after his death. Sleep on, the Yeye Oodua of Ile Ife.