Tag: HID

The disagreement between Mrs HID Awolowo and Mrs Faderera Akintola is believed to have split the two families, disintegrated the Action Group (AG) and divided the Yoruba. LEKE SALAUDEEN examines the issues that led to the families feud. 

IS the disunity in the Southwest traceable to the political quarrel between the families of the first Premier of Western Region, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his successor, the late Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola (aka SLA). Analysts believe the families feud divided the Yorubas.

A political activist in the heady days of politics in the West, Chief Olalere Alabi, recalled that the feud was just one of the remote causes of the political turmoil in the 1960s in the old Western Region. The late Mrs Hannah Idowu Dideolu (HID) Awolowo and the late Mrs Faderera Akintola were so much involved in the feud and rivalry between their husbands that they became sworn enemies.

Alabi traced the feud to the circumstances where the late Mrs Awolowo, as wife of the Premier of the Western Region,  was the major distributor of certain commodities. But when the Awolowo  left office and the late Akintola took over, the late Mrs Awolowo refused to relinquish her distributorship to the late Mrs Akintola. The argument of the late Mrs Akintola was that it was the right of the wife of the Premier to be the enemies’ sole distributor: She fought the late Mrs Awolowo to relinquish her distributorship, but she stood her ground.

“That explained how the acrimony spilled to the Action Group (AG). Awolowo saw Akintola as a rebel and a betrayal. At a peace meeting called to resolve the growing differences and reconcile the two, Awolowo in spite of an apology by Akintola, offered to quit the party if Akintola remained. As a result Akintola was expelled. That created discontent among the members of the Action Group and led to the break- up of the party between Awolowo and Akintola supporters.

“Akintola and his supporters formed the United Peoples Party (UPP) and with a merger with the Chief Remi Fani-Kayode group from the National Council of Nigeria Cameroon (NCNC) , the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP was formed. Thus, the disunity that has ostensibly marked Yoruba politics was sowed,” Alabi said.

Another point, frequently mentioned then was the allegation that the late Mrs Akintola resented the fact that the late Awolowo, as leader of opposition at the Federal level was not giving her husband enough latitude and freedom to perform his duties as premier.

Apparently confirming the root cause of the feud, the late Mrs Akintola said in an interview in 1989: “Money is the root of all political problems in Yorubaland. There is no other issue, for otherwise we ought to be brothers and sisters all of us. So that if there were other issues, we ought to have the liberty to tell anyone who is displeased and ask him to make open expression of his or her grouse. But you can’t find that”.

Several efforts had been made over the years to resolve the crisis and reconcile the two families. In 1991, the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade conferred chieftaincy titles on the Akintola family as a way of ending the feud between the families. The royal plan was to confer the titles of Yeye Olugbon on Mrs Akintola and Yeye Babare of Ife on her daughter Dr Abimbola. The Akintola family refused to attend the ceremony where traditionally they would have to pay homage to the elder chiefs and the late Mrs Awolowo was an Ile-Ife high chief.

In 1999, Akintola’s son, Ladipo described the status of the relationship between both families thus: “One-on-one, on a personal level, we are friends. We don’t visit each other but we greet when we meet. We cannot see them and snub them. But on socio-political level, I personally believe some of my father’s achievements have been attributed to the late Chief Awolowo and they haven’t made attempts to refute them.”

Some Yoruba leaders are not happy over the inability to reconcile both families before the death of Mrs Akintola. Former Afenifere leader, the late Chief Abraham Adesanya, regretted that with the death of Mrs Faderera Akintola, the Yorubas are far from being united. “Her death is a loss to Nigeria as a whole and the Yoruba in particular. I would have wished that the Yoruba were more united before her demise,” the late Yoruba leader said.

Dr Bode Olajumoke shared Adesanya’s sentiment. He felt sad that the reconciliation process sweeping through Yorubaland was not completed before Mrs Akintola’s death. Olajumoke felt frustrated because he had worked to end the feud.

Despite the acrimonious relationship, it is instructive that following Mrs Akintola’s death, the Mrs Awolowo was one of the first to condole with the Akintola family. In her condolence message, the late Mrs Awolowo remarked: “She (Mrs  Faderera Akintola) was exemplary in character, a woman of courage and a worthy mother, who strove to give her children the best of attention.” Other members of the Awolowo family, and prominent Awoists who had taken sides and played prominent roles in the crisis did not only attend Mrs Akintola’s burial, they were full of praises for her.

Perhaps, the crisis could have been averted if the late Akintola had taken to his wife’s counsel. She had advised him against going into politics. According to her, if SLA were not the politician he was, perhaps he would have avoided the brutal death that threw her world into gloom. “He (Akintola) was a brilliant lawyer and would have been successful. I never like politics. But when I discovered his interest in politics was  deep, I gave him support. But I have told my children I don’t want them to go into politics, this same politics that killed their father.

In contrast, Mrs Awolowo  supported her husband’s adventure in politics. She was by every standard the woman behind her successful husband, especially in the alliance between the NCNC and the AG that culminated in the formation of the United Progressives Grand Alliance (UPGA). The late sage was in jail then.

There was an arrangement that she would contest the election and if she won,  she would step down for her husband in a bye-election. To fulfil her husband’s dream of becoming the President in the Second Republic , she toured the length and breadth of the country with her husband campaigning and mobilising women. She coordinated the women’s wing of the party and was always present at all party’s caucuses. Her description as Jewel of inestimable value by the late sage has been described as a fitting tribute to a woman of courage and solid pedigree.

Analysts said “the death of Mrs Awolowo,  marks the end of an era in the annals of Yoruba politics.. As she goes home, a glorious chapter is closed on the history of an era”.

 

They left a legacy of a stable marriage. The union was their contribution to the cause of monogamy in the modern world. The marriage survived the peculiar storm, stress and strains imposed by their mutual commitment to a common struggle at local and national levels. The bond of friendship was thick. The foundation of the relationship was solid. In the time of peace and war, Jeremiah Oyeniyi Obafemi Awolowo leaned on his heartthrob, Hannah Idowu Dideolu, who she fondly described as “my jewel of inestimable value”.

It was a long story of devotion, commitment and perseverance. Both were only united by mutual hope for a brighter future when they agreed to become one. They resolved to weather the storm. Then, challenges arose,  the couple developed a thick skin. Instructively, they were endowed with hearts of steel and stone. The husband wanted to pursue the golden fleece. He sold his house and other property and travelled to the United Kingdom to study law, leaving his young wife and children at home.

HID worked hard as a trader. But, the proceeds she sent to her husband abroad to aid his education. Then, marital psychologists have not come up with the theory that distance could be a barrier to marriage. Unlike now, a husband could travel abroad in pursuit of knowledge, without entertaining the fear of infidelity. When Awo returned, it was to the bosom of his beloved wife. He was not accompanied by a new wife from abroad.

It was a stable marriage of two love birds: But, how did the enduring relationship began? A historian, Insa Nolte, in her book, “Action Group: Obafemi Awolowo and the making of Remo-The local Politics of a Nigerian Nationalist,” stated that, like many men of his generation, Awolowo wanted to marry from Ikenne. Before meeting HID, he had asked for the hand of Augusta Omoriola Onafowokan in marriage. Born in 1915, she was the first Ikenne girl to attend a secondary school. After completing her education at the CMS Seminary in Lagos, she worked at the Colonial Secretariat as a clerk. Her father, Gabriel Onafowokan, was the Native Administration Treasurer of Ijebu Province and the highest paid colonial worker in the area. So lucrative was his career that he declined the stool of Alakene of Ikenne, explaining that his income as a monarch would be lower.

However, Augusta’s father turned down Awo’s offer to marry his daughter. Nolte suggested that Awo was hurt by that refusal. Three factors may have been responsible for turning him down. She was already engaged to another man and Onafowokan had little choice in the matter. It was also possible that Onafowokan, who brooked no opposition because of his economic status, loathed Awo’s self-assured demeanour and unwillingness to supplicate to others. Also, there was a gap in social economic status. Awo had lost his father very early and he did not inherit much material resources, unlike Onafowokan , who has become a member of the rich elite.

According to the historian, Awo later courted HID, whose father, Moses Odugbemi Adelana, was the Baba Ijo of St. Saviour’s Anglican Church, Ikenne. But, the courtship was not a walkover for him. In her secret letter to Awo, HID pointed out some misgivings. Her mother, who considered him to be a rascal and trouble maker, admonished her for her choice. At that early stage, the option available to HID was to continue the relationship underground. “However, Hannah was committed to Obafemi and in 1937, shortly before his business collapsed, her parents eventually agreed to a wedding. Theirs was by all accounts a successful marriage, which remained monogamous for almost 50 years, from December 1937 until Awolowo’s death in May 1987″, Nolte wrote.

HID was a devoted full time housewife. But, when Awo left Nigeria for Britain in 1944 to study law, her aptitude for business unfolded. She already had three children and was pregnant with the fourth. To support her young family in the absence of the breadwinner, she traded in locally made and imported dresses, hats, shoes and bags. HoD was even sending money to her husband abroad. After Awo’s return, she continued her business venture and later became the distributor for the Nigerian Breweries and the Nigerian Tobacco Company.  She was not only a wife, but also a mother, businesswoman, adviser and helper to her husband.

HID on slippery political field

HID was conscious of her blue blood. In the two ruling houses she belonged to in Remo, she was held in high esteem. If colonialism had not disrupted the traditional political institution, HID may have grown up to inherit a fiefdom, her father being a Prince of Remoland. Her beloved son, the late Oluwole Awolowo, was apparently seized by that nostalgia of royal pride when he decided to pre-fix his name with the title of a Prince.

HID was born into Remo and Ikenne politics. She was a descendant of the powerful Liyanju Royal family, which had access to the throne of Akarigbo and also the Obara family in Ikenne. In fact, it has been suggested that Awo participated in the local politics of Remo and Ikenne due to her wife’s influence. There was a disputed land along Ikenne-Sagamu Road, which belonged to the Obara family. Some Ikenne indigenes supported by Onafowokan cleared parts of the land for farming, to the consternation of the Obara family, which took them to court. The counsel to Obara family was Awolowo, who won the case at the West African Court of Appeal. The court ruled that the family was the main caretaker of the land and ordered the defendants to pay 60 guineas to the plaintiff.

Shedding light on the political division of labour between the husband and wife, Nolte remarked: “In some ways, the division of labour between Obafemi and hannah Awolowo in Ikenne and Remo reflected a gendered appriach to politics, in which Awolowo himself acted officially in the public spere while his wife provided access to and mobilised non-public political resources

The republican politics of the pre-independence and immediate independence era fame to her in the corridor of power. From 1950 and 1987, when her husband, Awo, was councillor at the old Remo Council presided over by the Akarigbo, Oba Williams Adedoyin, the Leader of Government Business and  Premier of Western Region, Leader of Federal Opposition, Federal Commissioner for Finance and Vice Chairman of Federal Executive Council, and till the day he died in dignity as an elder statesman, Yeyeoba HID was a factor in the politics of the Southwest and Nigeria.

The non-constitutional nomenclature of “First Lady” was unpopular in those early days. Thus, Mrs. Awolowo operated at the home front as the Premier’s wife. Her public outing was limited to accompanying her husband to important state functions, rallies and campaigns. She boosted the morale of the Action Group (AG) Women Association led by the late Mrs. Emily Rosiji. On few occasions, she mounted the rostrum to campaign for party candidates. Within the party, HID was held in high esteem the a non-controversial wife of the Leader.

In post-1962, her father’s absence foisted on her increased political role. She was just recovering from shock the 10-year jail slammed on Chief Awolowo when her first son, Segun, a promising lawyer, died in an auto crash. But she had become a rallying point for the progressives in the region who were being hunted by Premier Remi Fani-Kayode (Fani Power). In the subsequent federal and regional parliamentary elections, she played a major role of being a leading campaign for the United Progressives Grand Alliance (UPGA), following the decision of the repressed AG and a section of the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) led by the Premier of Eastern Region, Dr. Michael Okpara.

For the first and last time, HID contested for a federal parliamentary seat in Remo Constituency, which had been  vacant since Awo was imprisoned by the power that be. Her opponent was the Remo Prince, Chief Adeleke Adedoyin, nicknamed Seriki Tulaasi by admirers. Adedoyin, a lawyer, contested under the Nigeria National Alliance (NNA), which was a coalition of the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) and Akintola’s Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP). The campaign was hot. Reflecting on the poll in his autobiography, ‘An Unbreakable Heritage’, Oluwole Awolowo recalled that the election was rigged in favour of Adedoyin. “Mama’s votes were not counted,” he lamented. “In fact, UPGA, to which Mama belonged, boycotted the election, but it was the belief of Remo voters that, despite the boycott, Mama won the election hands down. This was not impossible because in some parts of Western Region (Osun, Ife, Ijesa, Ekiti), some UPGA candidates won the election. People were aggrieved”, Wole Awolowo stressed.

Owing to her husband’s profile, Mama became a crowd puller. Despite her electoral misfortune, she hosted many political associates in Ikenne for Awo’s 50th birthday on November 25, 1965. The large presence of UPGA supporters at the ceremony threatened the few NNA members in town. On sighting the NNA flag, UPGA youths attempted to remove it and it led to fracas. Until her husband was released from prison, she faithfully held forte, mobilising people for the party and sustaining their courage with messages of hope.

In 1978, Mrs. Awolowo played a major role in the election of Mr. Awoyemi into the Constituent Assembly. The choice of Awoyemi was contested by Awo boys-Olu Awotesu and Olayinka Yesufu-who insisted that the late sage had promised to support the former Remo Councillor, Awotesu, for the slot. Both claimed that Awo changed his mind because Mama HID mounted pressure on him to support Awoyemi. The incident led to the parting of ways between Awo and his two disciples who made sure that Awoyemi lost the election to Awotesu. Consequently, they were not admitted into the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) when it was formed in 1978. Both Awotesu and Yesufu went to the National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

In 1979, Mrs. Awolowo campaigned for her son, Wole, who contested for the Apapa Constituency seat in the Lagos State House of Assembly. He won. He was also re-elected in 1983 on the platform of the UPN.

Also, in that Second Republic, HID and her friend, the late Alhaja Abibat Mogaji, led a reconciliation team to Kwara State to resolve the crisis between the two governorship aspirants; Senator Cornelius Adebayo and the late Chief Sunday Olawoyin. Awo and former Lagos State Governor Lateef Jakande, who has links with Omu-Aran, had supported Olawoyin. But, former Oyo State Governor Bola Ige backed Adebayo. The primaries ended in fiasco twice. At the third time, Adebayo defeated Olawoyin. The contest generated a bad blood. Olawoyin’s supporters were injured by the outcome. When efforts to bring truce hit the rock, Mrs. Awolowo took the initiative to visit the two politicians with a team of women. As she reflected, women achieved peace where men failed.

In the Third Republic, she identified with the proscribed Social Democratic Party (SDP) on which platform her daughter, Dr. Tokunbo Dosunmu, declared her intention to rule Lagos State. The ambition did not see the light of the day as the able lieutenants of Awolowo resisted it, saying that they could not serve father and daughter in quick succession.

Mama Awolowo has been a pillar of support for the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) and the Yoruba Unity Forum.

Vicissitudes of life

For HID, life was full of ups and downs. Like her husband, she bore the vicissitudes of life with uncanny courage and philosophical calmness.

Awo and HID were one soul in one body. From the onset, she was prepared and determined to weather the storm with him. Their fruitful marriage was still young when the teacher, journalist, stenographer transporter and produce buyer from Ilishan Remo left the country for the United Kingdom for legal studies. He was armed with a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce, which he had earned as an external candidate. Awo could not raise enough money, despite the efforts to get bonds from the late Chief H.O Davies and the Ogbeni-Oja of Ijebu-Ode, Chief Adeola Odutola. He had to sell his building.

The lot fell on HID to raise the children-Segun, who later entered Igbobi College in 1948, Omotola, and Oluwole. Awo returned to political activism and legal practice, following the completion of his studies abroad. He founded the Action Group (AG), became the Premier and Leader of Federal Opposition. He sought to served as the Prime Minister, but he lost his deposit at the 1959 poll. AG could not win the majority of the parliamentary seats. Then, hell was let loose in his party. The AG split into two camps in 1962.

Tragedy hit the family, barely two years after independence. The Coker Commission of Enquiry was set up to probe the finances of the Western Regional Government, which Awo headed between 1951 and December 1959. The tribunal was manipulated to discredit Awo. It has not completed the task when the Federal Government of Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa announced that it has uncovered an arm plot. A state of emergency had been declared in the region, with the Federal Government detaining Awolowo at a mosquito-infested area of Lekki.

One day, policemen invaded Awo’s residence at Apapa for a search. They could not find any incriminating material. After that, they informed him that a similar search will be conducted at Ikenne. The policemen insisted that HID had to follow them that night to Ikenne. Awo objected. When they arrived the residence the second day, the female officer who searched Mama Awo unleashed a psychological torture. She asked HID to off her dress completely as part of the search. It was an agonising experience.

During the treason felony trial, Awo’s first son, Segun, the British-trained promising lawyer, who had completed her Master’s Degree in International Law, was involved in an auto crash at Shagamu. He died instantly. The news was broken to her mother by Awo’s associates. She was heart-broken. Then, it was broken to Awo in detention. When the husband and wife met inside the prison where Awo was held, she wept uncontrollably. Awo did not succumb to emotion. He comforted her, saying that she should take heart. The deceased left behind two children-Segun and Funmilola.

Awo played a prominent role in the life of the country as the war time Minister of Finance and Vice Chairman of Federal Executive Council led by the Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon. But, efforts to rule the country in the post-military years were aborted in 1979 and 1983. He died without realising this lofty dream of transforming the country as he did as the Premier of the defunct Western Region.

In post-Awolowo years, the political family was in disarray. Things fell apart and the centre could not hold again, especially after the demise of Chief Adekunle Ajasin and Senator Abraham Adesanya, who wielded the family together under Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group.

Four years ago, death sneaked into the Awo family again, snatching the fourth child, Mrs. Ayodele Soyode. She was a successful lawyer who managed the chambers left behind her father. It was a painful death which hit Mama HID in her twilight of life. Mourners thronged her residence at Ikenne Remo, Ogun State, There was an outpouring of grief. Mrs. Ayodele was married to a political activist, Tayo Soyode.

In 2012, Ayo’s brother, unbreakable Oluwole, also passed on. Almost five years before his death, he had been confined to a wheel chair, following the spinal cord injuries sustained in an auto crash. Thus, in her life time, the great woman had to endure the pains of losing three children.