How many people will have the courage to prepare for their death several years before it comes? The wife of the former premier of the old Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo,  Mrs Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo did just that, and in a wonderful manner.

She died on September 19 and will be buried on November 25 in a gold casket, wearing a white damask cloth which she kept for that very purpose since 1979.


One of her children, Reverend (Mrs) Tola Oyediran, revealed this. She said “Mama in her unique way had kept a white damask to be laid in her casket whenever she died since the day she stopped her fabric sales business. And if I am not mistaken, I think she stopped selling fabrics around 1979; meaning that since then, she had kept that damask for that purpose. That is her wish and it will be like that.”

Reverend Oyediran also informed Nigerian Tribune that her casket made of gold would be brought in from the United States of America. Her mother, Oyediran further added, would be buried beside her husband inside the Awolowo mausoleum in the compound.