The remains of the Awolowo matriarch, Mrs. Hannah Idowu Dideolu (HID) Awolowo, arrived at the Park Lane, Apapa, Lagos home of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, for the beginning of the 11-day funeral rites.
The black ribbon decorated ambulance had the logo of the undertaker, TOS Funeral.
The casket was accompanied by six pall bearers dressed in traditional clothes. The casket arrived at 12.45pm.
Her daughters-Mrs Tola Oyediran, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu -and other family members received people who came to pay their last respect.
The ambulance stopped 500 metres to the Awolowos’. There was thunderous ovation and clapping from residents, who besieged the Awolowos’ home.
The pall bearers lifted the glass casket amidst singing, dancing and drumming and took it to one of the sitting rooms decorated with flowers and candles.
Mourners who filed past the open casket praised Mrs. Awolowo for her exemplary life. Politicians and associates eulogised the deceased during the lying-in-state and service of songs.
The service of songs started at 5pm. Her daughters read the first and second reading from the book of Ecclesiastes.
The Archbishop of Lagos (Anglican Communion), the Most Reverend Abebayo Akinde, said the day of reckoning will come. He urged the people to seek the face of God.
He said the people must go back to God and seek him, noting that God is the only Supreme Being who all must strive to do His wish.
“The only power worth serving is Jesus. The reality is that whether we believe it or not heaven is real and we must be prepared to make heaven.
“Whatever we achieve the choice is ours, if we wish to make heaven the choice is in our hands. Please make the right and wise choice. Now is the time to decide where we want to be.There is life beyond now please be wise and make the right choice.”
The arrival of the National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, set the place agog.
Tinubu said the progressives have lost its mother-pillar.
He said: “Nigeria will miss her sterling qualities, dedication to humanity and commitment to the ideas of the progressives. There is no doubt that we lost a great and virtuous woman, mother of the progressives and unifier of the country.
“Mama was a mother to us. She lived a committed family life. She was a disciplinarian and an embodiment of great values. I recall her commitment to her husband.
“She gave the greatest support and Nigeria has benefited immensely from her advice, discipline, commitment and love and we have seen that reflected here now. There is no gainsaying that we have lost a great woman and a mother.”
Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Amobode said Mrs. Awolowo’s final journey from Lagos showed that her death was a loss to the Centre of Excellence.
“Mama’s final journey beginning from Lagos signifies the fact that this is a huge loss to Lagosians and the mere fact that also we are remembering Mama from Park Lane shows that she has been a major bastion of commerce and trade and the development of Lagos State. For us this is a Lagos loss, it is not even about Yoruba’s loss alone.”
Former Osun State Deputy Governor Olusola Obada said she was full of affection and love.
“We are all going to miss her love, advice and support at all times. She does not care where you come from. She loved everybody and was just a great human being that God created to bless Nigeria.”
Afenifere chieftain Ayo Adebanjo said: “We have lost a woman who devoted herself to a cause, a pillar of support for her husband, unyielding. We wish for more of her type.”
President of the Ijaw Women Leadership Forum Chief Patience Ngene said the Ijaw community has lost a great benefactor, whose genuine concern for women permeated the Ijaw nation.
“Words cannot adequately describe how much her passage affect women and the Ijaw in particular.”
Pastor Ituah Ighodalo of The Trinity House, who prayed for the family, said Mama Awolowo never departed from the standard set by the late husband, who lived and died for the country.
He prayed that the nation will not fail.
At the ceremony were Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Senator Muniru Muse, former Lagos State Governor Alhaji Lateef Jakande, mother of the Vice-President Mrs. Bisi Osinbajo, Hajia Binta-Fatima Tinubu, Hajia Abba Folawiyo, Adekunle Ojora and others.
