Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo (; 25 November 1915 – 19 September 2015), popularly known as HID, was a Nigerian businesswoman and politician.

Biography

Born to a modest family in the small

Ikenne Ikenne is a Local Government Area in Ogun State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Ikenne at . It has an area of 144 km and a population of 118,735 at the 2006 census. The postal code of the area is 121. Wards in Ikenne # Iken ...

community of

Ogun State Ogun State is a state in southwestern Nigeria. Created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. Ogun State borders Lagos State to the south, Oyo State and Osun State to the north, Ondo State to the east, and the Republic of Benin to the ...

in Nigeria, she attended

Methodist Girls' High School Methodist Girls' High School is a secondary school for girls located in Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, ...

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

. She was married to politician

Obafemi Awolowo Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo (; 6 March 1909 – 9 May 1987) was a Yoruba nationalist and Nigerian statesman who played a key role in Nigeria's independence movement (1957-1960). Awolowo founded the Yoruba nationalist group Egbe Om ...

from 26 December 1937 to his death in 1987. He famously referred to her as his "jewel of inestimable value". She was also a successful businesswoman and astute politician. She played an active role in the politics of

Western Nigeria The former Western State of Nigeria was formed in 1967 when the Western Region was subdivided into the states of Lagos and Western State. Its capital was Ibadan, which was the capital of the old region. In 1976, the state was subdivided into thre ...

. She stood in for her husband in the alliance formed between the NCNC and the AG, called the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA), while he was tried and in jail. The plans were that she would contest the elections, and if she won, would step down for her husband in a by-election. To fulfil his dream of becoming president in the Second Republic, she toured the length and breadth of the country with her husband campaigning. She also coordinated the women's wing of the party and was always present at all party caucuses. A successful businesswoman, she became the first Nigerian distributor for the

Nigerian Tobacco Company Nigerian Tobacco Company was a cigarette manufacturing, distribution and marketing company that was owned by the Nigerian government and British American Tobacco. The company operated factories in Ibadan, muchia Zaria in kaduna and Port Harcourt. Th ...

(NTC) in 1957. She was the first to import

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is divided into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

materials and other textiles into Nigeria. In addition to a variety of other titles, she held the chieftaincy of the ''Yeye Oodua'' of

Yorubaland Yorubaland () is the homeland and cultural region of the Yoruba people in West Africa. It spans the modern-day countries of Nigeria, Togo and Benin, and covers a total land area of 142,114 km2 or about 60% of the land area of Ghana. Of this ...

. On 19 September 2015, she died at the age of 99 just over 2 months short of her 100th birthday. She was buried beside her husband in Ikenne on 25 November 2015. The

Vice President of Nigeria The vice president of Nigeria is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the federal government of Nigeria, after the president of Nigeria, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. Officially styled vice president ...

Yemi Osinbajo Oluyemi Oluleke Osinbajo (born 8 March 1957) is a Nigerian lawyer, professor, and politician who is the 14th and current Vice President of Nigeria since 2015. A member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he previously served as Attorney Ge ...

, is married to her granddaughter, Dolapo Soyode.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Awolowo, Hannah 1915 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Nigerian businesswomen 20th-century Nigerian politicians 20th-century Nigerian women politicians Hannah Burials in Ogun State Methodist Girls' High School alumni Nigerian Christians People from Ogun State People of colonial Nigeria Spouses of Nigerian state governors Yoruba women in business Yoruba women in politics