HID Awolowo: “We were in meeting over Mama’s 100th birthday party when she died” – children
The media is awash with news of the passing of Hannah Idowu Dideolu (HID) Awolowo, wife of the late premier of the defunct Western Region Obafemi Awolowo.
HID Awolowo, 99, died Saturday afternoon weeks before her 100th birthday.
A close friend of the Awolowo family, Ovation publisher Dele Momodu said Mama’s children were holding a meeting on organising her 100th birthday party when she died in her sleep.
Momodu said the children told him Mama was in “high spirits” before embarking on her last sleep.
“I was in Belgium when I received news of her passing this afternoon (Saturday) and the children told me exactly what happened,” Momodu told TVC News via phone, Saturday night.
“Her children were at her home and were planning her forthcoming hundredth birthday celebration when she passed on,” Momodu said.
Momodu said he was shocked to hear about the death of HID Awolowo whom “I visited two months ago.”
“It was a rude shock,” he said.
“Not that she wasn’t old enough but I was not expecting her to pass on at this time.
“Mama lived a very good life. Her children told me she was in high spirits before taking a nap.”
“She was a pillar to Obafemi Awolowo, an example of motherhood. She stood by her husband. She was one of the people that made me, and will continually make me, proud to be African.”
“This is an important day for Africa,” he said.
Mrs. Awolowo was erroneously reported to have died on June 22, 2012.
Her eventual passing happened 28 years after her husband, Obafemi Awolowo, passed on in 1987.
Obafemi was fond of calling HID “Jewel of Inestimable Value.”
History shows the woman played an undeniable role in her husband’s rise to heroic prominence.
