Ogun govt. closes schools, markets for HID Awolowo’s burial

The Ogun government has directed that all markets and public schools in the Remo Zone of the state be closed on Wednesday for the burial of late Chief HID Awolowo.

This is contained in a release signed in Abeokuta on Monday by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr Taiwo Adeoluwa.

It stated that the closure was a mark of respect for the late Matriarch of the Awolowo dynasty, who died on Sept. 19.

The release, however, said the directive would affect only schools Ikenne, Remo North and Sagamu
Local Government Areas.

”Government, hereby, appeals to market men and women as well as residents of the state to troop out en-masse to give late Mrs Awolowo a befitting burial,” it said.

Also the governor on Monday named the only Model School in Ikenne and the recently completed PlainField Estate at Oke-Mosan in Abeokuta after the late Chief H.I.D. Awolowo.

Amosun made the announcement in his address at Sagamu International Stadium, where he hosted eminent personalities as part of activities organised for the burial of late Mrs Awolowo.

The governor, who eulogised the deceased, described her as “a pride of womanhood,“promised that the legacies of the Awolowo dynasty would be upheld by the government.

Eminent personalities who attended the event included Chief Ernest Sonekan, Head, former Interim National Government; Dr Kayode Fayemi, Minister of Solid Minerals and Chief Bisi Akande, Chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria.

Others are Mrs Bola Obasanjo, wife of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Ayo Adebanjo, a chieftain of Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural group among others.