For Late Mrs. HID Awolowo, We Cannot Continue To Hide, Says Former President Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, disclosed that the death of the matriarch of Awolowo family, Mrs. HID Awolowo, has ‘forced’ him and his wife out of their ‘hiding place’ since he had resolved not to go out for one year.

Vanguard Newspaper account quoted the President to have said; “We, just like the immediate children, and indeed this country as a whole, have missed her. Within this period, myself and my wife have been hiding; we don’t even go out. We thought we’ll be hiding for at least 12 months.

“But in this particular case, we cannot hide. So, we have come for the condolence and to encourage our brothers and sisters that we are together. God brought her for all of us. She just had to be the direct mother of few but she was a mother to all. We shall mourn more than even the direct children would.”

Jonathan was among dignitaries, who visited the Ikenne home of the Awolowos to pay tributes to their departed matriarch, Hannah Idowu Dideolu, who passed on last Saturday.

He said: “Me and my wife are not mourning because mama has passed on. For me, we believe that it’s a rare privilege to add extra 29 years to the biblical three scores and 10; it’s not easy.

“Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have been mourning but mama was a rare mother. She was a woman of virtue described in the Bible and she was a mother to all of us.

“A mother that her milk of kindness we still need, her milk of encouragement we still need, her milk of advice we still need and today she’s no more with us.”