Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, yesterday, caused a stir at the book launch on Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo, when he ordered that N10 million cash be brought from his car for the launch.
Contrary to the expectation that every donor would issue cheques, Atiku, who was the Chief Presenter of the biography of HID Awolowo, In the Radiance of the Sage: The Life and Times of HID Awolowo, ordered that the money be brought and handed it over to the representative of the family.
The launch of the biography of the late matriarch written by Prof. Wale Adebanwi, was held at the Ikenne, Ogun State, country home of the Awolowos.
Apart from Abubakar, other prominent Nigerians who included the former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, who was represented by the Managing Director of New Telegraph Newspaers, Mrs. Funke Egbemode; former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; Hon. Ladi Adebutu, Senator Anthony Adefuye, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, Prince Ademola Adeniji-Adele; Juju music maestro, Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey-Fabiyi attended and donated various amounts to support the publishing of the book, paid through cheques.
Meanwhile, Abubakar described the late Mrs. Awolowo as the best First Lady Nigeria never had.
According to him, the late sage and premier of the old Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, owed his successes in life largely to the contributions of the late matriarch.
