Retired soldier Kayode Sotunde, 49, had plans for better living
when he undertook a journey from Gboko to Kano on April 11,
this year, but he did not make it to Kano alive. The commercial
bus conveying the ex-soldier crashed on the way, claiming
him and 17 others.
But the saying, ‘old soldier never dies’ appears to have played
out with Sotunde as he woke up after being in the mortuary
for three days, where his body was kept, waiting for his family.
"I am a living witness to the fact that God exists. You
may not believe me, just like I may not have believed it if
it did not happen to me. I died in an accident along with
17 others, but resurrected three days after in the
mortuary .”
In fact, it was when his corpse was taken out of the mortuary
for preparation that he suddenly woke up.
Kayode narrated his experience to SUN's Moshood Adebayo 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 (new
wife) 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.
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