After 10 days of burial activities in honour of the late Mrs. HID Awolowo, matriarch of the Awolowo family, she was interred Wednesday around 2.00 pm beside her husband, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo inside a mausoleum at the family compound in Ikenne, Ogun State.
The interment which was attended by only family members and some invited bishops, was done in a mausoleum built within the premises of the Awolowo country home at Ikenne, Ogun State.
Apart from the two surviving children, Rev. Omotola Oyediran and her husband, and Ambassador Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu and her husband, almost all the grandchildren and great-grand children were at the graveside where the remains of their mother were lowered.
Newsmen were barred from covering the interment, but were allowed to cover other activities within the premises.
The interment lasted almost 30 minutes before the bishops came out of the mausoleum followed by the children and grandchildren of the diseased.
Some of the 16 governors and other dignitaries including former president Olusegun Obasanjo, former head of State, General Yakubu Gowon and Head of Interim National Government, Chief Earnest Shonekan, among others, neither waited for the interment nor the reception held at the premises.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who arrived Ikenne at 2:15pm shortly after the interment, headed straight for the Efunyela Hall to hold a closed door discussion with the Awolowo family for about 30 minutes
The President, accompanied by Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, later visited the mausoleum, spent about two minutes there before leaving.
Meanwhile, the city of Ikenne in Ikenne Local Government Area of the state was agog following the influx of people across the country to honour the late matriarch of the Awolowo dynasty.
Earlier, the final funeral rites were held at Our Saviour’s Anglican Church, Ikenne, with heavy presence of security personnel from the state and the Presidency.
The open space in front of Model School, Ikenne, which the governor named after the deceased, was cleared for President Buhari’s helicopter to land.
The Federal Government delegation comprising ministers was led by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who was accompanied by his wife, a grand-daughter of the matriarch.
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, arrived at about 10:16 a.m with some senators and members of the House of Representatives.
Former presidents and heads of state such as Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Yakubu Gowon, Ernest Shonekan, Oladipo Diya also attended the church service presided over by Archbishop, Primate and Metropolitan, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh.
The church service was attended by serving and past governors, including national leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu. Also at the event were Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, former governors of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba and Otunba Gbenga Daniel.
Also present were governors of Ondo, Cross River, Imo, Osun, Oyo, Kaduna and Sokoto states respectively Olusegun Mimiko, Ben Ayade, Rochas Okorocha, Rauf Aregbesola, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, Nasir El Rufai and Aminu Tambuwwal.
The service was conducted by the Primate of the Anglican Communion in Nigeria, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, with 36 bishops in attendance.
In his sermon, Most Revd Okoh who spoke on “God’s promised rest” said the nature of rest promised by Jesus is deeper than revealed from every physical exhaustion: “Mama is now at rest from her labours due to her faith in Christ. She has fought the good fight and has finished the race so gloriously. To God Almighty be the glory.”
In his remark at the church service, the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, who spoke on behalf of President Buhari, eulogised the late matriarch of the Awolowo dynasty, saying that she had left an indelible mark in the sands of time.
He noted that the late HID remained politically relevant since the death of her husband in 1987. He, therefore, urged members of the Awolowo family to keep the flag flying and ensure that the legacies and values left behind by both Awolowo and HID were upheld by them.
Buhari later arrived at the residence of the Awolowos at about 2:16pm and headed straight for Efunyela Hall. Journalists were, however, barred from entering the hall by the security personnel at the reception.
As early as 8am, eminent Nigerians led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President Saraki and 16 governors had started arriving at Ikenne and headed straight for Our Saviour’s Church (Anglican Communion) where the church service was held.
By 8:45am, the 690-seater church was filled to capacity as people scrambled for space to pay their last respects to Mrs Awolowo.
To cater for spill-over, canopies were erected within the premises of the church and television screens were hung at strategic points for people far away from the altar to watch and follow the proceedings in the church.
The church service formally commenced at 9am when the white chariot conveying HID’s gold-plated casket arrived at the church and the bell on the belfry tolled for the third time.
CHOGM: Buhari leads Nigerian delegation to Malta
….UN conference on climate change in France
President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja Thursday for Malta to participate in the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which begins in the island nation on Friday.
The Commonwealth is made up of Britain, Nigeria and 51 other countries that work together to pursue common goals and promote development, democracy, peace, security and good governance.
According to a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media, Femi Adesina, President Buhari and other Heads of State and Government who will be in Malta for this year’s summit are expected to deliberate on fresh Commonwealth initiatives on development and climate change with a view to adding greater value to ongoing global efforts in these areas.
A new Secretary-General of the Commonwealth who will take over from the incumbent, Kamalesh Sharma, will be announced at the summit which will also feature the presentation of a progress report on the eradication of polio.
The Head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II, will formally declare the summit open and host a banquet in honour of President Buhari and other participating heads of states and governments.
At the conclusion of the Summit on Sunday, President Buhari will leave Malta for Paris where he will present Nigeria’s statement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled to open in the French capital on Monday, November 30.
The President will join over 100 other world leaders at the Leaders’ Event on the opening day of the conference which will be hosted by President Francois Hollande of France and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki Moon.
President Buhari will also participate in a summit of the Heads of States and Governments of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin Republic which has been scheduled to take place on December 2 in Paris on the sidelines of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change.
Deliberations at the Paris meeting of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Benin Republic will focus mainly on the war against Boko Haram and other security issues of common interest to participating countries.
President Buhari will be accompanied on the trip by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama; the Minister of Environment, Mrs Amina Mohammed and the National Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd).
-Leadership/Vanguard