49-year-old Mr Kayode Sotunde,
a retired Nigerian soldier has narrated his death experience
after he woke from the dead at a Kano mortuary in April.
The ex-military man who died
en-route Kano on the 11th of April, 2013 is a living witness that heaven and
hell is real.
On the fateful day of his death, the
passenger bus taking him and others to Kano from Gboko crashed on the road. All
the 17 passengers on the bus died on the spot.
Sotunde who is yet to gain his health back said
he woke up 3 days after his death at
Ahmadu Bello University Hospital
morgue in Kano where his corpse and that
of others were deposited for families to claim them for burial.
Mr Sotunde said his corpse was being
prepared for burial when he woke up.
The former military man narrated his
death experience to Sunday Sun in Abeokuta, Ogun State yesterday.
Interview excerpts below ;
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.
Kayode Sotunde Narrates Death
Experience
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.
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