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Wife of the late sage and Premier of Western Region, Chief (Mrs.) Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo is dead, few days to her 100 years birthday anniversary. The Matriarch of the Awolowo dynasty, according to family sources, passed on in her sleep yesterday afternoon.

It was learnt that Mama Awolowo who would have clocked 100 years on November 25 passed on at about 3:15pm, shortly after she held a family meeting with her children and other members of her family. She finished the meeting and went into her room where she was later discovered to have given up the ghost.

A statement issued by the family and signed by her eldest child, Mrs. Omotola Oyediran, confirmed the passage of Mama Awolowo. The one-page statement entitled, “Glorious Exit” disclosed that Mama Awolowo died on September 19, 2015. The statement added that she spent the day in company with her children, grand children, great grand children and close family members before her final exit. It added that she prayed for all of them before they went into the meeting aimed at planning for her 100th year birthday anniversary. The statement further said that Mama Awolowo died “as she had always wished; surrounded by her children, grand children and great grand children.”

The statement reads: “With gratitude to God for her remarkable and illustrious life, the entire Awolowo family announce the Glorious Home-calling of our dear Matriarch, Yeye Oodua, Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo this afternoon, September 12, 2015. Mama died as gloriously as she lived, she spent the day in the company of her children, grand children, great grand children and close family members. She shared a precious few minutes with them when she went in to pray for them as they met to plan her centenary birthday. They sang her a befitting song as she came in and she continued to pray for them. She died a couple of hours later as she had always wished; surrounded by her children, grand children and great grand children.”

Mrs. Awolowo, who was billed to celebrate her 100th birthday anniversary on November 25, had been slightly indisposed in the past days. Late HID Awolowo who was born in Ikenne almost a century ago, became a rallying point for the Yoruba unity after the demise of her husband, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. She died almost 28 years after her husband’s death in 1987.

Her marriage to the late Chief Awolowo on December 26, 1937, had produced five children, with three surviving. The surviving children are Mrs. Omotola Oyediran and Dr. (Mrs.) Tokunbo Dosunmu-Awolowo, a former Nigeria’s ambassador to the Netherlands and Executive Director of Obafemi Awolowo Foundation. The other deceased children are Olusegun (1939-1963), Chief Oluwole, who died on March 27, 2013, and Ayodele Soyode (mother of Dolapo, who is wife of Vice President Osinbajo, died at 66 in 2011) and Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu,

A successful businesswoman, she became the first Nigerian distributor for the Nigerian Tobacco Company (NTC) in 1957. She was the first to import lace materials and other textiles into Nigeria.