21st September, 2015
President Muhammadu Buhari described late Hanna Idowu Dideolu Awolowo as one of Africa’s greatest female political icons when he placed a personal call to the family of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to commiserate with them over her passing.
Buhari’s conversation was contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday by the president’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu.
HID Awolowo is the grand mother of Dolapo, the wife of the Vice President of Nigeria.
The statement quoted the president as describing the deceased as “an institution in her own right, and a model of motherhood”.
President Buhari said that the late Hanna Idowu was “one of the greatest female political icons in Africa” who was deservingly revered for her remarkable virtues.
Buhari noted that HID’s shining virtues as a great mother, wife and motivator, would live after her.
According to the statement, President Buhari has equally dispatched a powerful federal government delegation to condole with the Awolowo family at Ikenne, Ogun.
The delegation, which met the Vice President and other members of the Awolowo family, was led by Malal Abba Kyari, the Chief of Staff to the president.
He was accompanied by the Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF), Babachir David Lawal, the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Abayomi Olanishakin and other government functionaries.
The delegation extended his condolences to the family, the government and people of Ogun over the death of H.I.D. Awolowo.