Chief Oluwole Awolowo
Publisher,
African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc, the publishers of the Tribune
newspapers, Chief Oluwole Awolowo, died in a United Kingdom hospital on
Wednesday at the age of 70.
A statement from ANN Plc on Wednesday
said Oluwole, a son of the late Premier of the defunct Western Region,
Chief Obafemi Awolowo, died as a result of the complications he suffered
in a car crash about seven years ago.
The statement by the Managing
Director/Editor-in-Chief of the company, Mr. Edward Dickson, said,
“Chief Awolowo died 5.40pm Nigerian time at Wellington hospital, St
Johnswood, London, following complications arising from a car crash that
occurred on September 30, 2006.
“He had been in and out of hospital,
home and abroad, since he was involved in the ghastly accident seven
years ago on the Lagos- Ibadan Expressway.
“Despite his health challenges following
the accident, Chief Awolowo devoted his life to the service of God and
was deeply involved in evangelical activities.”
Many will believe that with his passage,
another strong pillar has departed the Awolowo Dynasty. Apart from
being the only surviving son of the late sage until his death on
Wednesday, he was a major force in the running of the late politician’s
estate.
He had been running the ANN Plc, as the
Publisher/Vice-Chairman since 1984. Family sources said Oluwole
Awolowo’s tenacity of purpose, which earned him the nickname
Únbreakable, given to him by his late father, guided his path till his
final days.
At age 12, his independent mind led him
into joining the youth wing of the National Council of Nigerian
Citizens, the political party led by the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, which
was opposed to his father’s Action Group. But that was not an act of
rebellion, but freedom of expression and association which in fact Papa
Awolowo admired in his son.
Oluwole, however, won his first elective
office in 1975, as a Councillor representing Apapa in the then Lagos
City Council. In 1979, he won a seat into the Lagos State House of
Assembly, representing Apapa Constituency on the platform of the Unity
Party of Nigeria led by the late Awolowo.
PUNCH
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