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 the 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.
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