Some don’t believe this, read
and judge… This Retired soldier, Kayode Sotunde, 49 told his story of how he
undertook a journey from Gboko to Kano on April 11, this year when th
e commercial bus he was in
crashed ,claiming him and 17 others. However, he wokeup three days after in the
mortuary, where his body and others were deposited for their families to claim
for burial.According to Sotunde, his
corpse was taken out of the mortuary and was being prepared for burial when he
suddenly woke up. Read his experience as narrated to Sunday Sun in Abeokuta,
Ogun State Journey from Gboko to mortuary On that fateful day, that was April
11, 2013, I was travelling from Gboko to Kano to see my younger brother, Jide
Sotunde, a soldier serving in Kano. We had
agreed on the journey which we had thought would afford us to discuss important
issues, including the possibilities of getting another job that would not be
too far from where I had my wife. I retired from the Nigerian Army, (Supply and
Transport), Apapa Lagos where I served for 30 years, during which I also
participated in many peace keeping force assignments outside Nigeria. After
retirement, I got a job as a security guard at the Dangote Cement, Gboko, Benue
State from where I also resigned because of the distance of my workplace and
where my family was based in Osogbo. The ill-fated vehicle was an 18-seater
passenger bus, which I boarded in Gboko en-route Kano. We were barely two hours
into the journey when a passenger asked us to pray. Since it was a normal thing
for a passenger to offer to pray on such a long journey, I did not heed his
call. I was just playing with my mobile
phone set. Aside from that, I didn’t believe in the prayer since I didn’t know
anything about Jesus Christ. I was a freethinker who neither went to church nor
worshipped any idol. We were making progress on the journey when suddenly there
was a bang. That was all I could recollect about the journey until I woke up
three days after in the mortuary of the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching
Hospital, Kano where I was told that I died in an accident and my corpse along
with other 17 passengers were deposited there. Even though the hospital
authorities told me that I was in their morgue for three days as a dead man, I
actually spent more days there before I could regain my senses. I was to be
buried in Kano I was told that before I returned from the land of the dead, my
family had instructed my younger brother who I was visiting in Kano before the
accident to bury me in Kano since they could not afford the N150,000, which was
said to have been requested by transporters to take my corpse from Kano to
Abeokuta. My elder sister, Moradeke
Sotunde played a prominent role in this regard. I was also told that it was at
the point that my corpse was being prepared for interment that suddenly I
returned to the land of the living after my corpse was taken out of the
mortuary for prayers by Islamic clerics who were said to have sprinkled water
on my corpse preparatory to my burial. I was also told that my hair was also
shaved as demanded by the clerics. I was told that my corpse was taken out of
the mortuary after they had dug my grave and organised some clerics to offer
the funeral prayers. They wanted to bury me
in Kano because my family members couldn’t afford N150,000 demanded for
carrying my corpse to Abeokuta for burial.
The initial plan was to move my corpse back home to Abeokuta, where a
grave had been dug but for the transportation cost. Life in the land of the
dead My brother, truly, there is life after death. I can also tell you that
there is a living God. You may not believe me, but I am a living witness to
this. I may not be able to describe Heaven or Hell, but there is another life
after this one that we are living. This place I am talking about is full of
snow. I may not have been to America, but I have heard about snow. Where we
were was full of snow, with plenty of something that I can describe as alum
stones; whitish in colour with something I can describe as granite in this
physical world. In spite of the terrible
cold, there was no day that we felt cold and it was never harmful to us. All of
us were there without knowing whether we are male or female. We couldn’t see
our eyes, mouth and nose. We had no leg; we had no arm, but we floated in the
air without our bodies touching the ground. We were flying around what I will
describe as another planet. On the third day of my arrival on the strange
planet, they gave me a message that we were expecting one big prophet. After
the message was delivered, they
nominated ushers among us to welcome the
prophet. And seconds later, people
started trooping in, jubilating as if a goal was just scored in a football
match. On that planet, there were many stars which were not stable in one
place, like we have in the sky in this world. I noticed that on a daily basis,
people kept on increasing, even though we don’t know from where they came. I
was in this mood until they (I don’t know them) told me that I should go back
home to work for the Lord. According to them, there were many people in the
world who are not only in bondage, but are also afflicted with human pains.
They also instructed that I should work for the Lord and heel people. I was
even arguing, putting up some resistance that I could not do it. This was the
condition I found myself until I opened my eyes and saw Jide, my younger brother in this part of the world again. In
God’s vineyard Since the Lord has directed me to work for Him, I will surely do
so because ‘to be forewarned, is to be forearmed.’ It was because of this that
I went to do my thanksgiving service at the Mountain of Fire and Miracle, in
Lagos with the General Overseer, Pastor Olukoya. The Lord has started
performing miracles in other people’s lives through me. I don’t want to sound
boastful, but God has started using me. I do pray for people now and they
usually return to tell me that their problems have been solved. It is the
Lord’s doing. I have already prayed for a woman who has married been for 14
years without a child that God will give her the fruit of the womb. The person
who lives in Ikorodu spoke to me through the telephone and I believe Lord will
answer her prayers and request. I have accepted to work in God’s vineyard till
I return to Him. Day I returned to
Abeokuta I caused a stir in this area when I returned alive to Abeokuta because
people including my family members, except my brother who was with me when I
rose from the dead, did not know I had risen from the dead. On arrival in
Abeokuta, we played pranks on my people as they did not know that I was returning
to home alive that day. When we got nearer home, the person that accompanied me
decided to call Kemi, my mother’s last born that we were already in
Abeokuta. When my sister saw me, she
fainted and was later revived. She was
shivering when she woke up. We later told her to return home to tell others
that I had risen from the dead. On my way, I saw people mourning me, wearing
black attire. I trekked a distance of about 800 metres to my father’s
house. There, a grave had also been dug
beside my late father’s before the family decided to bury my corpse in Kano. I
waved as people were expressing shock and disbelief at seeing me alive. When I
attempted to move closer to a woman in her shop, she ran away, thinking I was a
ghost and pleading that she had no hands in my death. My sister, Moradeke who
lives in Lagos was also wearing a black attire, mourning along with others
until I returned home. I returned to Abeokuta on the very day I was to be
buried. I even met many of the mourners, wearing black (including my sisters)
who had gathered in my father’s house here, (Sabo Abeokuta). There was also a
particular woman who threw away the beans meal she was eating and ran away from
her shop when she sighted me. I kept on saying that I was not dead, but she found
it difficult to believe me. Health challenges Although I have returned from the
land of the dead, I have not fully regained my health as I am talking to you. I
have both chest and body pains. In fact, medically speaking, I am not alright. I usually run strange temperature. That was why I visited the Federal Medical
Centre, Idi Aba for medical treatment. I
vomit blood each time I cough. I can’t engage in any hard labour. Besides, a
lot of strange things have started happening to me. Sometimes, I feel as if I am still in the
mortuary. I will be seeing a lot of
heads. My sight is not normal, it sometimes fails me. I have also started
giving messages to people about things that they don’t know about their family.
I started revealing to them what had happened in the past to their
astonishment. This has made many people to run away from me with some
describing me as a demon. To be sure that I am not a ghost, I tried to relate
with my friends as well as eat with them. Despite this a few of my friends
still avoid to shake hands with me, thinking that I am a ghost. I am homeless
You ask where I live? To answer straight, I am homeless, because I am currently
squatting with my younger sister, causing her and her family inconveniences. Even though she is not complaining, I know
that I am inconveniencing her. I have
been given quit notice in Osogbo after my landlord heard of the incident.
According to him, he could not live with Akudaaya (ghost). I stayed at No 1,
Rasco Hall, Oke Fia, Osun State, Osogbo, It was the ejection that informed my
living with my sister here (Abeokuta). I need serious financial assistance from
well-meaning Nigerians to take care of my health and sustenance. Survival is difficult for me. That is why I appeal to Nigerians to come to
my aid. I want to stop being a burden to my sister and her nuclear family. I
want individuals as well as corporate bodies and churches to help me
financially. God will surely replenish their purses in abundance in Jesus name.
I had a broken home some years back and I remarried two years ago, but when the
incident happened, the woman abandoned me and ran away from Osogbo. I want to
appeal to Nigerians and other people that there is God. I want them to believe
that there is life after death; so we should do good to our fellow beings.
Heaven and Hell are real. Where we want
to go is an option for us to decide. I want people to know that it is just a
matter of seconds between life and death. Strange!!!
0 comments :
Post a Comment