Awolowo, Hannah (1915—)

Nigerian businesswoman and philanthropist whose early ventures in trade grew into a business empire that generated the fortune that allowed her husband to devote himself to politics as a nationalist leader. Name variations: Chief (Mrs) H.I.D. Awolowo, Mama H.I.D. Born Hannah Idowu Dideolu Adelana on November 25, 1915, at Ikenne Remo, Nigeria; daughter of Chief Moses Odugbemi Adelana (a prince) and Elizabeth Oyesile-Adelana (a businesswoman and member of Nigerian royalty); attended Saint Saviour's Anglican School, Saint Peter's School, and Methodist Girls' High School in Lagos; married Obafemi Awolowo (a journalist), on December 26, 1937; children: Segun, Olusegun, Omotola, Oluwole, and Ayo.

Entered business after the departure of her husband to study in England (1944); founded Didelou Stores Ltd., Ligu Distribution Services Ltd. (after 1946); backed the founding of The Nigerian Tribune, later expanded to include the African Newspapers of Nigeria Ltd., and African Press Ltd. (1949); husband became prime minister of the western region of Nigeria (1951); Chief Obafemi lost bid for national leadership (1959); Obafemi, arrested for treason, began 10-year imprisonment (1962); Obafemi released after government coup (1966); Awolowo campaigned for her husband in two unsuccessful bids for the national presidency (1979 and 1983); continued her philanthropic activities after her husband's death (1987); awarded the 1,000-year-old chieftaincy title of Yeye-Oba for life (1980).

Hannah Idowu Dideolu Adelana was born into a polygamous household, the daughter of the second of her father's three wives, and the only one of the seven children borne by her mother to survive long after birth. She grew up in a lively and happy home, filled with nine half-brothers and half-sisters. Hannah's father was Chief Moses Odugbemi Adelana, a prince with connections to Nigerian royalty; her mother, Elizabeth Oyesile-Adelana , was related to the Onijagba royal family, and came from a long line of businesswomen who had grown wealthy through trade.

Members of the large Adelana household were also Christian, and Hannah began her elementary education at age six at the Saint Saviour's Anglican School. In 1928, when she was 13, she went to Saint Peter's School in Lagos, then on to Methodist Girls' High School. In Lagos, she and a half-sister shared a rented room where they were visited regularly by her mother. Hannah learned to prefer school to vacations, because when she returned home, her younger brothers and sisters would be excused from the heavy domestic chores that were turned over to her. But during these times, she also traveled with her mother on her business trips in the textile trade and learned a great deal about the fundamentals of business. Although classmates of hers may have had easier lives, she never regretted the parental discipline, which she later felt had prepared her for the rigors of her adult life.

At age 19, Hannah finished college and returned to teach at Saint Savior's Anglican School. Although she was comfortable economically, business had become as natural to her as breathing, and soon she was making additional money as a seamstress and through the import of hats and other items. While still a teacher, Hannah met Obafemi Awolowo through mutual friends. Soon she began to receive long handwritten letters from Awolowo, who was a journalist with a passionate interest in politics, and the two were married on December 26, 1937, after a three-year courtship. Their first child was a son, Segun, born in 1939, followed by Olusegun, Omotola, Oluwole, and Ayo over the next several years.

[Hannah Awolowo] is a resourceful business woman, and … a worthy upholder of the traditions of her mother and grandmother both of whom are successful women traders. With my wife on my side, it has been possible for us to weather all financial storms.

—Chief Obafemi Awolowo

Shortly after their marriage, Obafemi decided that he did not want his wife to work and forbade her to engage in trading. In 1944, when he departed for two years to study law in London, he gave Hannah, then pregnant with their fifth child, £20 (a considerable sum at the time) to provide for the family. Until this time Hannah Awolowo had respected her husband's wishes, but now she withdrew the entire amount from the bank and bought foodstuffs, which she resold at profit. Reinvesting, she watched her earnings grow and made enough money to return her husband's £20 pounds, which reached London at a time when Obafemi was destitute. After that, he never again forbade his wife's business ventures.

When Obafemi returned from his studies in 1946, his perspective had changed. In London, he had become enmeshed in politics, and he was now gripped by the idea of independence for Nigeria. "The entire continent of Africa must be free," he told his wife, "and the dignity of the black man restored to him." When he expressed his desire to enter politics, she agreed to a plan that gave him her full moral and economic support.

Hannah opened a small shop at the rear of their home where she sold European textiles. The business was doing well when Obafemi was elected to the West Region House and appointed Leader of Government Business. Expanding the business to a shop on the market square, she also became a distributor for beer and tobacco products, establishing a sales network that expanded eventually throughout Nigeria. This enterprise was a source of some conflict, as Obafemi never smoked or drank and was opposed to the profits made in this way, but eventually he submitted to the arguments of Hannah and their children that these products were legal and enjoyed by millions of Nigerians. Under her control, the distributorships grew into Didelou Stores Ltd. and Ligu Distribution Services Ltd.

In 1949, Obafemi founded The Nigerian Tribune, a national daily, with money earned by his wife. Under her guidance, this venture grew into a network of newspapers, journals, and magazines, and she became chair of African Newspapers of Nigeria Ltd. and African Press Ltd. While she advanced their corporate empire, Obafemi became a national political figure and a writer of books, including Path to Nigerian Freedom, The People's Republic, and Thoughts on Nigerian Constitution.

In 1951, Obafemi was president of the Action Group Party (AG), which won the elections in the western region of Nigeria, where he headed the new government and became prime minister under a new constitution in 1954. As a regional leader, Obafemi sponsored many innovative programs that were new to Africa, introducing free primary education for all schoolage children in 1954 and establishing the first television station in the whole of black Africa in 1959. In 1960, he opened a first-class sports facility, the Liberty Stadium, in Ibadan.

By 1959, Obafemi had built the AG party into a national political power through which he hoped to gain control of the national government, but he failed to win in the elections. A new government was formed under Nnamdi Azikiwe and his party, the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). The political loss set up a chain of events that were to have a disastrous impact on the Awolowo family. Since Nigerian party loyalty usually followed tribal origins, most members of AG were Yorubas, like the Awolowos, while most members of the NCNC were Ibos. Under their new parliamentary form of government operating after Nigerian independence, Obafemi Awolowo was the leader of the loyal opposition; but the traditions of parliamentary rule were not yet strong enough to overcome tribal hostility, and Azikiwe and the NCNC set out to obliterate the opposition party.

In 1962, the Awolowos were experiencing unbounded success. Obafemi was poised for national office, Hannah's business ventures were thriving, their eldest son had become a lawyer, and their four other children were in the process of completing their educations. Then a series of swift moves by the Azikiwe administration placed Obafemi under house arrest. Thousands demonstrated in vain against his incarceration, but the police began to appear at the house, all hours, day and night, to question the couple and search the house for incriminating documents. A fruitless search only angered the police and caused them to leave the house in a shambles.

On November 2, 1962, Obafemi was arrested with 18 other members of his party and charged with treason; if convicted, he faced a death sentence. When the case went to trial, Hannah sat stoically in the courtroom day after day. Thrice daily, she visited the jail to take her husband home-cooked meals. Segun, a 23-year-old attorney, became her main support, accompanying her to prison, taking over his father's duties, and managing details of his mother's business, until one morning when he was killed in a car accident on his way to visit his father in prison. When Hannah returned home from viewing her son's body in the morgue, the police had again searched the house and left the possessions of the family strewn over the floor.

The nightmare continued. After a long trial, Obafemi was sentenced to ten years in Calabar prison, where regular visits were prohibited. For four years, Hannah saw him as often as she was allowed, tended her businesses, and looked after her family, until a coup felled the government in 1966. Obafemi was released by its leader, Colonel Gowon.

Known as an honest man who never took a bribe, Obafemi had introduced many innovative programs to Nigeria. His main fault seemed to be that his success as an able and honest administrator gave him more political stature than the opposition could tolerate. Obafemi later remarked on how ironic it was that he, who had given so much of his life to gain independence for Nigeria, had spent the first years of his country's newly won freedom in jail.

After the release of Obafemi, the Awolowo family remained out of public view for many years. In 1979, when her husband decided to run for the presidency, Hannah consented reluctantly to the plan. She toured the country with him for the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), but Obafemi lost, then ran and lost again in 1983. On May 9, 1987, Chief Awolowo died in his sleep. His passing was marked by the closing of markets for two days, and more than a million Nigerians attended his funeral.

Obafemi Awolowo would have given most of the credit for his remarkable career to the woman he called "a jewel of inestimable value." He often named the three factors in his life to which he owed his success as "the grace of God, a spartan self-discipline, and a good wife." For most of their marriage, Hannah Awolowo was the family's sole breadwinner, and while funding her husband's political career, she gave his aspirations her full support, allowing him to chart an independent political course, and making him beholden to no one.

After her husband's death, Hannah Awolowo made large donations to the Methodist Girls' High School, the Ikenne Community Hospital, and the Awolowo Memorial Museum. In memory of her husband, she sponsored the building of the Obafemi Awolowo Memorial Anglican Church, and she became widely known for her many philanthropic contributions throughout the country. Tola Adeniyi documented Hannah Awolowo's remarkable life in her book, The Jewel: The Biography of Chief (Mrs) H.I.D. Awolowo.

In 1980, Hannah's contributions to the people of Nigeria were recognized when she was awarded the title of Yeye-Oba for life. Among her people, few women ever achieved the rank of "chief," and fewer still have been raised to this high rank of chieftaincy, recognized for a thousand years.

sources:

Adeniyi, Tola. The Jewel: The Biography of Chief (Mrs) H.I.D. Awolowo. Ibandan, Nigeria: Gemini Press, 1993.

Akinola, Anthony. "Politics without Awo," in West Africa. No. 3642, June 1, 1987, pp. 1040–1041.

"Awo's Last Journey," in West Africa. No. 3643, June 8, 1987, pp. 1088–1089.

"Awolowo's Burial," in West Africa. No. 3641, May 25, 1987, pp. 996–997.

"Chief Awolowo's Legacy," in West Africa. No. 3640, May 18, 1987, p. 947.

"A Flood of Tributes," in West Africa. No. 3640, May 18, 1987, pp. 952 and 980.

Leith-Ross, Sylvia. African Women. A Study of the Ibo of Nigeria. NY: Frederick A. Praeger, 1965.

Mba, Nina Emma. Nigerian Women Mobilized. Women's Political Activity in Southern Nigeria, 1900–1965. Berkeley, CA: Institute of International Studies, 1982.

Obe, Ad'Obe. "Succeeding Oduduwa," in West Africa. No. 3640, May 18, 1987, pp. 950–952.

Okutubo, Taiwo. "Awo Comes Home," in West Africa. No. 3644, June 15, 1987, p. 1140.

Williams, David. "A Personal Memoir," in West Africa. No. 3640, May 18, 1987, p. 948.

Karin Loewen Haag , freelance writer, Athens, Georgia