Adeboye, Tunde Bakare, 60 others for HID Awolowo’s burial

…funeral activities begin Nov. 15

General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, and that of the Later Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, as well as 60 other Anglican bishops are among several other ministers of God billed to participate in the 11-day burial programmes culminating in the final interment of the late Yeye Oodua and matriarch of the Awolowo dynasty,
Mama HID Awolowo.

Also, 35 governors as well as secretaries to the government of those states will be joining their Ogun State counterpart, Ibikunle Amosun, to give the late Mama Awolowo a befitting burial in the ceremony, which begins from November 15 and end on November 25 this year.

Addressing a press conference yesterday in Ikenne, the country home of the Awolowos, the HID Awolowo burial central planning committee explained that the late Yeye Oodua would be finally interred in Ikenne on the occasion of her posthumous Centenary birthday anniversary on November 25.

The committee has among its members, the two daughters of the family, Rev. Omotola Oyediran, Ambassador Tokunbo Awolowo- Dosunmu, a federal government’s representative, who is a permanent secretary in the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Dr. Oyemomi, as well as Secretary to the Government of Ogun State (SSG), Barrister Taiwo Adeoluwa, among others.

Speaking on the event, Barrister Adeoluwa explained that the Ibikunle Amosunled administration in the state as the chief mourner, has already dispatched correspondence to all the 35 state governors across Nigeria to officially inform them of Mama Awolowo’s passage as well as invite them to join in the internment.

Adeoluwa who said the office of the Ogun SSG has done same to invite all the 35 SSGs in Nigeria for the burial, also said that the government of Ogun State is still expecting the Presidency to inform the committee of the list of heads of government of other countries that have been invited for the burial.

Giving a vivid breakdown of the 11-day burial activities of the late patriarch of the Awolowo dynasty, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu explained that the corpse of Mama Awolowo would be lying-in-state at the Tribune House in the Imole F’alaafia area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on November 17, to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the founding of the newspaper organisation which she chaired till death.

Dosunmu-Awolowo further stated that a book – the biography which chronicled the life and times the late matriarch of Awolowo dynasty, would be presented to the public in Ibadan the following day, among several other lying-in-state ceremonies in both Lagos, Ibadan and Ikenne for Mama Awolowo.

She also disclosed that the burial planning committee has evolved a special traffic control measure which would restrict vehicular movement from Ikenne township, stressing that a special transportation arrangement has been made to convey guests from the outskirts to the town, particularly the 690-sitting-capacity Our Saviour’s Anglican Church where the church service would hold.

Awolowo-Dosunmu, however, appealed to Nigerians to show understanding and support for the family over the burial arrangement for the late Yeye Oodua.