₦airaland Forum

Former Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori, has urged Bola, the widow of the late Segun Awolowo, to find strength in the glowing tributes poured on her husband following his passing.

The late Segun, grandson of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, passed away on Thursday, November 20, 2025, at the age of 62.

Speaking on Tuesday night at the Night of Tributes held in honour of the late lawyer and former Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council at Harbour Point, Victoria Island, Lagos, Ibori described Awolowo as a humble, dignified and impactful public servant whose legacy will endure.

Addressing the widow directly, Ibori said, “All we will say here and all you have heard is for you to draw strength to carry on. Our guy was a great guy.”

The former governor recalled that he was attending a similar tribute event for the late Oskar Ibru when news of Awolowo’s death reached him, describing the moment as a painful irony.

“My first thought was, ‘What a season!’ It was a life fully lived in all its chapters. To be honest, I never imagined it would come so soon.

“We all knew he was struggling, but that did nothing to soften the blow. The reality came with such weight, bringing profound shock and sadness,” he said.

Ibori praised Awolowo’s calm disposition, integrity and devotion to service, noting that despite his lineage, he carried the Awolowo name “not as a crown but as a responsibility.”

According to him, the late Awolowo distinguished himself in public service, especially during his tenure as NEPC chief, where he championed Nigeria’s non-oil export drive with vision and diligence.

“He performed exceptionally well. He was not there for the title but for tangible results. He was a true servant of the nation,” Ibori stated.

According to him, the late Awolowo distinguished himself in public service, especially during his tenure as NEPC chief, where he championed Nigeria’s non-oil export drive with vision and diligence.

“He performed exceptionally well. He was not there for the title but for tangible results. He was a true servant of the nation,” Ibori stated.

He added that Awolowo’s life reflected humility, discipline and purposeful leadership, describing him as “a bridge between a storied past and a hopeful future.”

He extended condolences to the Awolowo family and all who knew him, praying for comfort and strength in their time of grief.

"As we mourn his passing, we extend our deepest condolences to the entire family, led by his wife Bola and all who knew and loved him. May they find comfort in the respect and affection that his life has inspired. His was a life well lived, though ended too soon".

"He embodied grace under pressure, service over self and the enduring power of a good name. May his gentle soul rest in eternal peace. Rest in peace, Shegee. Good night,” Ibori added.

dalass:
Ibori should just go and sit down somewhere. He should cover his mouth and head in shame 😔

dalass:
Ibori should just go and sit down somewhere. He should cover his mouth and head in shame 😔

dalass:
Ibori should just go and sit down somewhere. He should cover his mouth and head in shame 😔

nairavsdollars:
https://punchng.com/find-strength-to-carry-on-ibori-tells-segun-awolowos-widow/

Reloadedisraelp:
his 100% better than ur president.... Awo.

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

anonimi:
Why did you omit to provide details of how he is better than Awo, whose grandson he was eulogising?

What government services and common utilities did ex-convict Ibori employ well paid civil servants to provide during his eight years in government

Sensiblerealist:
The powerful man of Delta politics. Nobody down there can lace his boots. His conviction for corruption back then is now looking like child's play to what the present day polithiefcians are looting

dalass:
Ibori should just go and sit down somewhere. He should cover his mouth and head in shame 😔

nairavsdollars:
https://punchng.com/find-strength-to-carry-on-ibori-tells-segun-awolowos-widow/

Exousiang01:
When Chief James Ibori dies, his dead body laid in a casket will still command more respect than you alive.

Some of you are stagnated because of your mouth

PulaPower:
Why?

Did he not do well as a governor?

Why do you think people still respect him till date?

nairavsdollars:
conviction is political

Sensiblerealist:
Mark my words and bookmark this page; he will be granted state honour before the end of Tinubu's second tenure

bolaayenimo:
State honour or state pardon?

Sensiblerealist:
I think he never really had a case in Nigeria. He was convicted in the UK. Na why I use that word 'honour' as Na president close pal.