by Agbonmagbe Kazeem
“How Awolowo ‘toasted’ Hannah, won her love”
When Hannah returned to Ikenne (now in Ogun State) from Lagos in 1933, she had become an attractive 18-year old young woman. She was turning heads in the small Remo town. Her beauty was complemented by her charm, modishness and cosmopolitan skills. Young men in Ikenne were in awe and not a few of the mothers of young men were eager to ‘snatch’ this young woman for their bachelor-sons.
Even though Hannah was unaware of the young Ikenne man (Obafemi) living in Ibadan who had moved from public letter-writing into transportation business and then produce-buying, he was aware of her. He knew of her family background and had heard so much about what a beautiful, amiable, conscientious, and disciplined lady she was.
In the immediate post-Victorian era Western Nigeria, “love-letter” had become the significant and acceptable way by which the educated and the “modern” men courted similarly educated and modern young women. But when Obafemi wrote his first letter to Hannah intimating her of his love for her and his desire for a relationship that would lead to marriage, she hadn’t even met him and was left wondering who this love-struck man was.
“My husband started courting me in writing ever before we met face to face,” Hannah discloses in her autobiography. He was then the secretary of the transporter’s union in Ibadan and a leading member of the produce buyer’s association. The skills he had deployed as a public letter-writer came in handy in the process of expressing his affection for Hannah. Even though he deployed the language facilities he had acquired from wide-ranging literature, he made the core of his message very clear: “I want to marry you.”
Hannah was not interested in a relationship; she was not even interested in dating a man she had not met. There were a few others who had expressed interest in her. They were mostly non-Ikenne indigenes. Given her mother’s very clear and strong position that she was not ready to “lose” her to some non-indigene who could take her to a “far-away” place after marriage, she turned down her suitors. Even though the latest suitor was an Ikenne indigene, she was still not interested. But the letters continued to arrive from Obafemi in Ibadan. He needed to move on to the next stage of what was emerging to be a well-planned life and would not be deterred by the lady’s rebuff.
One day Mr. Emmanuel Obajimi Olutunda, a native of Ikenne and Obafemi’s friend who was also a relation of Hannah met her to verbally relay another message from Obafemi. Olutunda spoke glowingly about this man. He was a “serious,” “successful” and “focused” man who would make a good husband, he said. The relentlessness of the suitor through letters and Olutunda’s testimonial succeeded in raising some curiosity in Hannah. She told Olutunda, “Look, I don’t even know the man you are introducing to me.” That was an ice-breaker. Olutunda promised to bring the suitor as soon as possible.
He sent a message to Obafemi in Ibadan. It was a message of optimism, or more precisely, of possibility.
On the appointed day in 1934, the smartly-dressed Obafemi, accompanied by Olutunda, met Hannah in her friend’s house. Here, at last, was the man behind the sweet words. And here was the object of his desire, the much-sought after beauty. Obafemi introduced himself and added that he was the one behind the letters. He had come to re-affirm his craving for her love. He asked for her hand in marriage. Having satisfied her curiosity, Hannah again repeated her rejection of his request for a relationship that could blossom into marriage. She told him she had someone else in her life. It was just a ploy to shake him off.
Before that day, as Hannah repeated, “I did not know him very well, because he left Ikenne in 1921 when I was just six years old, but I have been hearing about him. He had written to me, as was the pattern in those days…. I rejected his offer saying there was a man already in my life. You know you won’t agree immediately…
“Eventually, we came to terms and settled down.” That was how Hannah described her decision to enter into a relationship with the man who would go on to redefine modern political leadership in Nigeria.
To be continued……
“THE HISTORIAN”
AGBONMAGBE REMILEKUN KAZEEM
+2348036472826
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