₦airaland Forum

I Visited Obafemi Awolowo’s Grave

By: Deji Yesufu

I had a traumatic experience at the market recently. The Seyi Makinde government has been carrying out a number of building projects all around the Bodija market here in Ibadan, which has reduced parking spaces throughout the market. I drove into a space where I was hoping to leave my car to do my business in the market. When I parked, no one told me that it was also my duty to patronize the women in that square. When I returned, one of the women selling accosted me. Her point was that I parked my car in their space, and went elsewhere in the market to buy the same things they were selling – I ought to have patronized them. The argument was logical, and at first glance, I would normally have apologized and let the matter be. But there was something in the way she spoke: it was the attitude that I owed her and others something; that I did not have the liberty to go anywhere I wished in a market where I pay money to have my car parked. Immediately, I rebelled against that spirit and made it clear to her that I did not have to patronize her. The matter degenerated into a shouting match, where she began threatening to raise a mob against me, and even said I must never park my car in that square again. I was a bit shaken by that incident because there appears to be this anger in Nigerians that they are seeking to pour on people around them. That simple altercation could have turned out to be something worse.

Every time I visit the market, or anywhere I see Yoruba people, especially women and children congregate, I think of Obafemi Awolowo. Oyo State is called the Pacesetter State. She is “pacesetter” because when Obafemi Awolowo and others led government in Ibadan between 1952 and 1959, they came up with so many firsts in the annals of governments in Nigeria. They established the first television station in Africa – ahead of many countries in Eastern Europe, including France and Spain. They also built the first football stadium, now called the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium. They built the first skyscraper in West Africa – the Cocoa House. The first modern housing estate in Nigeria – the Bodija Housing Estate. First free universal primary education policy in Africa. First free medical service scheme in Nigeria. First regionally implemented minimum wage scheme in the civil service in Nigeria. And many other “firsts” like those. When you read Obafemi Awolowo’s essays, you do not hear him write about “projects” or “firsts”. I read all the written works of Obafemi Awolowo, and there was nowhere he mentioned “Cocoa House” or “Liberty Stadium”. The man concentrated on principles of government, and quite naturally, the outworking of those principles brings all the “firsts” we see. It is sad that immediately after his time in government, there were the locust years of the Akintola administration and the coming of the military. So, when I see these women in the market, and I see load carriers (alabaru), and all these menial workers doing things beneath them, I mourn. Obafemi Awolowo never planned this sort of thing for the Yoruba people, nor did he think that Nigeria would be in the sorry state that it is in right now. Towards the end of his life, Awo saw that he needed to document his ideas so that people in the future could find them and help realize them. It was by reading those ideas that I became an avowed espouser of “Awoism,” and it is the reason why I visited his grave site on the 5th of November, 2025, at Ikenne.

5th November is the birthdate of Yeye Oduduwa – late Mama HID Awolowo, Obafemi Awolowo’s beloved wife in his lifetime. Ambassador Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosunmu leads two foundations in her parents’ name – the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation and the HID Awolowo Foundation. The first foundation focuses on realizing the visions and principles of Obafemi Awolowo, which he espoused in his lifetime and then documented in his books. The foundation in his wife’s name is concerned mostly with helping the girl child realize her God-given potentials, and also helping women to rise above the male stereotypes that many women have been caged in within the Nigerian space, and to help them fulfill their God-given potentials. The program was themed “Breaking Barriers on Standing Still? Nigerian Women in Politics 30 Years After Beijing”. It was held within the Obafemi Awolowo family compound in Ikenne, at the Efunyela Hall – a hall that the sage built to host political gatherings at his home. The Chairman of the occasion was Senator Daisy Danjuma, with the Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Engr. Noimot Salako-Oyedele, appearing as a guest of honor. Speakers at the event were Dr. Chantal Fanny (from the Ivory Coast), Prof. Olabisis Aina, Senator Uche Ekwunife, Barrister Hanatu Musawa, and Moremi Ojudu. Honorable Abike Dabiri and Prof. Adedoyin Aguoru were the moderators for the event. The discussions centered essentially on encouraging women to realize their potential as future nation builders and to help them evade the usual pitfalls that women fall into when they enter politics. Dr. Awolowo Dosunmu, the host of the event, made the point that her mother, whom the foundation is named after, actually ran for political office in 1965. She stood in for her husband, who was in prison at the time, and campaigned to be elected the Premier of Nigeria. Save for the rigging and the commotion of those days, she could easily have won.

While I soaked in the talks and events of the day, my mind was actually on Obafemi Awolowo. I drank in all the ambience of the Ikenne township. Ikenne is a very small town, and whatever development it enjoys today is owing largely to the person of Obafemi Awolowo. I stayed at the Soname Hotel. It is a guest facility that shares space with the Remo Stars’ stadium and training ground. From my room, I could actually see the players training. When I asked a woman by the road how I could get to Awolowo's house, she said “… just take a bike, and they will get you there…” The house is an address on its own – “Awolowo House”. I felt rebuked. Why would anyone not know Awolowo’s house in the whole of Ikenne? The man’s face is literally on one of Nigeria’s currencies – our one-hundred-naira note!

The Awolowo compound is a modest space. The main house where the sage lived was built sometimes in the mid-1970s – that is, a good five years after he had left the Gowon administration. It is a one-storey building that has a winding staircase situated in the living room that leads up to rooms upstairs. Awolowo also built the Efunyela Hall inside that compound – A building named after his mother, and there is a library in the compound, the Sopolu Library, which is named after his father. I believe after his death, the Mausoleum that houses his remains was built, and the museum, where many of the sage's personal items are housed, is also in the compound. The Mercedes car he used is carefully preserved there too. I also noticed that Awolowo may have had a detestation for living in GRAs. His Ikenne and Ibadan homes are situated right in the middle of where ordinary people live. All the houses that were neighbors to the Ikenne house had no fencing around them. In fact, quite a number of them had shops right in front of them where petty trading was being carried out. Awolowo grew up in very humble beginnings, and he never lost touch with his roots. He always knew that God raised him up to do these things in his lifetime, and he ensured that his connection to his roots remained. I will not hesitate to visit Ikenne again, and I do implore anyone reading this who has not visited the sage’s home to find time to do so. It is an experience worth having. Finally, I gathered some courage, and I visited Papa's burial site. Let me summarize that visit by saying that it was a spiritual encounter.

The Obafemi Awolowo Foundation has a leadership prize that it gives to worthy Nigerians every two years. There have been some years when the committee involved in selecting those nominated for it has ended up not choosing any winner. Here are the past winners: Wole Soyinka (2013), Thabo Mbeki (2015), Afe Babalola (2018), and Akinwumi Adesina (2023). There was no winner for 2016. It is also interesting to note that since the inception of this award in 2013, no Nigerian Governor or President has won it. This speaks volumes to the kind of political leadership we have in this country today.

The anger I encountered at the Bodija market, where that woman accosted me for not patronizing her despite parking my car in front of her shop, is a symptom of the bottled-up frustration that many Nigerians have with this country. There is no need to enumerate these things; they are obvious for everyone to see. The point that I hope my visit to Obafemi Awolowo's grave would wish to emphasize is this: once upon a time, Nigeria had visionary, quality, purposeful, altruistic, selfless, hardworking, and result-oriented leadership. Today, all that is history. The country appears to be on autopilot. Our best minds are fleeing the country and going to help develop other people’s lands. Obafemi Awolowo would never have japa even if things were as bad as they are today in his time (And things were bad at some point too. In 1962, there was ample opportunity for Awo to flee Nigeria and evade political persecution, but he did not). He would have remained behind and helped to fix things. We totally underestimate what it took to drive the British out of our land. I am convinced that the same spirit, focus, and vision that led the nationalists to show the British that Nigerians can govern themselves is still with us today. Bad, incompetent, and “anyhow” government can be replaced with sound leadership in our country. Obafemi Awolowo documented those ideas in his books. And a visit to his home and grave could give inspiration towards those ends.

Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY. He can be reached at naijareformed@gmail.com

Source

This article was written to commemorate the 110th posthoumous birthday of HID Awolowo.

VBCampaign:
Source

This article was written to commemorate the 110th posthoumous birthday of HID Awolowo.

Father figure of some useless politicians
Rest on the great Awo

The place is looking neat and amusing.

Omoh
Man no be God
Just live a good life and you will be remembered for good.

There are currently three Republic in Naija....
Agbadorian Republic, Bandit Republic and Biafra Republic
Where exactly do you belong ??

Honouring the purveyor and catalyser of tribal politics in Nigeria.

You see Yorubas rejoicing over Mazi Nnamdi Kanu imprisonment, forgotten their hero awolowo was sent to Calabar prison by Northerners and was later released by Ojukwu.



He later choosseed Northerners over those that released him.


Na still small northern soldiers made him drank rat poison called Otapiapia.

Rest on Great Chief Obafemi Awolowo

AqualinaXYZ:
Who goes Awolowo



No matter how useless Asari has become to us in Rivers State but trust me he’s bigger than entire Awolowo and his generation



Awolowo wey infection kill

No let hate and bitterness kill you

There's nobody in your tribe or state, join your generation that is bigger than Awo

Tbe coward like Ambode Man without balls

Well done sir
I have been there also

VBCampaign:
Source

This article was written to commemorate the 110th posthoumous birthday of HID Awolowo.

The same woman that Tinubu commissioned The Nation newspaper Editor to abuse, lambast and curse

Babasessy:
The Awolowo rebirth in the Southwest has inspired gongs, songs and rhetoric of sorts. But they have missed one point.

It occurred to me in Abeokuta last week amidst the big crowds and euphoria of the swearing-in of Senator Ibikunle Amosun as governor. In all the states from Lagos to Edo, where Awo has witnessed ideological resurgence, hardly a single family member has played a role.

So we have an Awo family without an Awo. That is an irony. But history overwhelms us with this sort of twist. Obafemi Awolowo toiled for his reputation. His roots were lowly, he toiled to school both home and abroad, launched into careers in law, business, journalism and eventually politics. He carved a niche for himself, and became the first methodical and charismatic leftist in our history.  Other leftists abounded but they did not inspire comparable drama and following.

He faced tribulations, went to jail, failed in elections, won a few, but he imprinted his ideas and legacy in the country, and no single mortal has beaten him in the history of this country. His greatest achievement was in the area of ideas, and that was how he fashioned a family. Most families are born of biology but his issued from ideology. That family suffered with him.

In a spoof of Jesus Christ, these were the men who followed him in his teachings, and endured with him in his temptations. So he formed a kingdom for them in the Southwest, in the old Western Region, presiding over his projects, his legacies and people.

In all of these, the family he had was not his flesh and blood. In another spoof of Christ, who were his family anyway? Those who were with him must be counted as his family. So, I combed in the ambience of Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), and I found none. I went to Ogun, I frisked the crowd under Amosun’s bower, hardly any. Around Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in Osun, I could not lay a finger. With Governor Kayode Fayemi in Ekiti, where are the forbears of Awo? Yet, I can hear the chants of Awo. Hardly in any of the inaugural speeches or any of their other public intervention would you miss the philtre and filter of Awo from these gentlemen. To parody Novelist Joseph Conrad, they are the sparks from Awo’s sacred fire, the messengers of the might within the man.

Already all of them are pursuing the legacy ideas of Awo: free education, free health services, infrastructural development, urban renewal and economic engineering.

Lagos has posted itself as the John the Baptist. The others are putting up valiant efforts, and the world of course is watching to see how well they will perform. It will call for great work, resourcefulness and cooperation. They are the real Awoists, and Awo was a man of rigour and vigour.

The Awo son that many expected to take after the father was Olusegun, who unfortunately died in a car crash. We shall never know if he could have pulled it off.  But the others have not shown much of the paterfamilias’ brio and depth. In the past decade, under this republic, they have blended with the wrong crowd. Even H.I.D, hobnobbed with Alao-Akala, who brought illiteracy to governance; with Oyinlola who turned the grace of office into a hell-hole of despots; with Daniel who could not arrest his quick fall into megalomania.

I wrote once that this woman whom Awo once described as the jewel of inestimable value has lost value to his cause. If he came back to life, he would have committed the extraordinary act of divorce after death. Even his newspaper, The Tribune, has so stumbled and fallen that it swims in Awo’s vomit.

                                                                             http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/columnist/monday/sam-omatseye/index.1.html

AqualinaXYZ:
Who goes Awolowo



No matter how useless Asari has become to us in Rivers State but trust me he’s bigger than entire Awolowo and his generation



Awolowo wey infection kill

at least him no kpai on top Bianca like ojuiku.. stop famzing SS we know where u r from

Continue to rest in peace, chief Awolowo.

AqualinaXYZ:
Who goes Awolowo



No matter how useless Asari has become to us in Rivers State but trust me he’s bigger than entire Awolowo and his generation



Awolowo wey infection kill

Is awolowo skull still in his grave?

Papa Awo ... Baba ni ikene .. orun ire e o
Thank you sir

hamedvision2030:
Father figure of some useless politicians
Rest on the great Awo

Rat poison man is great 🤣😂😂😂


Abiola and OBJ are greater than awororat.

Lanre4uonly:
Continue to rest in peace, chief Awolowo.

Someone his skull is missing 🤣🤣😂😂😂

AqualinaXYZ:
Who goes Awolowo



No matter how useless Asari has become to us in Rivers State but trust me he’s bigger than entire Awolowo and his generation



Awolowo wey infection kill

Tales from an Ogogoro man.

AqualinaXYZ:
Who goes Awolowo



No matter how useless Asari has become to us in Rivers State but trust me he’s bigger than entire Awolowo and his generation



Awolowo wey infection kill

Wetin this delulu dey talk?

billyadam:
Tales from an Ogogoro man.

Ogogoro is better, person wey don kolo enta market.

This thread is more about bashing each other with tribalistic comments, be warned

AqualinaXYZ:
Who goes Awolowo



No matter how useless Asari has become to us in Rivers State but trust me he’s bigger than entire Awolowo and his generation



Awolowo wey infection kill

I can understand your frustration.

chiagozien:
Someone his skull is missing 🤣🤣😂😂😂

Na rat sooolution fit person like you. Dem neva born ya paaaàpa when Awolowo be politician. Pikin we neva reach 20 years.

chiagozien:
Is awolowo skull still in his grave?

You can go there to check delulu.

Rest on papa Awolowo, your contribution to the betterment of our great nation Nigeria, will Always be remembered for good.

Look at the kind of history taught in ipob class. Did they also tell you that ojukwu fled the country dressing like a market woman after suyanizing millions in a senseless war? Funnily, your mazi is now caged like an animal and destined to continue from where ojukwu stopped. Fyi, Gowon pardoned and released Awolowo, not Ojukwu. And Baba died as an hero to his people. He dod not abandon them like a coward. He is one of my role models.

chiagozien:
You see Yorubas rejoicing over Mazi Nnamdi Kanu imprisonment, forgotten their hero awolowo was sent to Calabar prison by Northerners and was later released by Ojukwu.



He later choosseed Northerners over those that released him.


Na still small northern soldiers made him drank rat poison called Otapiapia.

nigerians and bootlickin for the elites

SpecialAdviser:
Tbe coward like Ambode Man without balls

Unlike that brave man that destroyed millions of lives in a needless civil war.

Only to run to ivory coast with his tail between his legs and later return to the same country to contest and still failed woefully.

You guys have no history. You need to shut up when real people with verifiable and respectable origins are talking.

AqualinaXYZ:
Who goes Awolowo



No matter how useless Asari has become to us in Rivers State but trust me he’s bigger than entire Awolowo and his generation



Awolowo wey infection kill