On 26 December 1937, a young man named Obafemi Awolowo married Hannah Idowu Dideolu. He would become one of Nigeria’s most important political leaders. She would become known across the country as HID, a figure of strength in her own right.
Awolowo was then working as a trader, clerk and journalist. HID was a successful trader too. In the early years of their marriage, her business earnings helped the family, and Awolowo later travelled to London to study law, becoming a barrister in 1946.
Politics
Awolowo became the leader of the Action Group, a major political party in western Nigeria, and the first Premier of the Western Region in the 1950s. His government introduced free primary education in the region in 1955, a landmark policy. He later served as federal commissioner for finance during the civil war. He ran for president in 1979 and 1983 and lost both times to Shehu Shagari, with HID beside him through each campaign. His portrait appears on the Nigerian 100 naira note.
Prison
In 1962, Awolowo was arrested and later convicted of treasonable felony, a trial widely seen as politically motivated. He was jailed and released in 1966. During his imprisonment, HID kept the family and its businesses going and visited him in prison. The couple also suffered the death of their eldest son, Segun, in a car accident in 1963 while Awolowo was in custody.
Mama HID
HID was admired as a businesswoman, a supporter of her husband’s movement and a mother figure to his political followers, who called her Mama. After Awolowo’s death, she remained an influential figure in Yoruba politics.
Family
The couple had five children: Segun, Omotola, Oluwole, Tokunbo and Ayodele. One of their daughters, Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu, became Nigeria’s ambassador to the Netherlands.
Death
Awolowo died in May 1987 in Ikenne and was buried there. HID died in September 2015, two months before her 100th birthday.
What couples can learn
Partnership in work. HID’s income and business sense supported the family and her husband’s education.
Standing firm in crisis. She held the family together during imprisonment and loss.
Respect. Awolowo credited his wife publicly for her role in his achievements.
Their marriage lasted almost fifty years. Her life lasted almost a century, and at Ikenne, the two are remembered together.
