The Gidan Angalu community in Toto Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, Nigeria was thrown into shock penultimate Tuesday with the ‘resurrection’ of a native doctor at the point of burial two days after he was certified dead.
Fifty-nine-year-old Godwin Ugeelu Amadu had been confirmed dead by doctors at a private hospital at about 6 am on September 5, 2022, following which he was covered up and wheeled into the mortuary as doctors and family members awaited the arrival of his Abuja-based eldest son, Mr. Jacob Amadu.
Since the deceased native doctor was said to have left an instruction with his children that he must be buried not later than three days in the hospital before burial and he must not be embalmed with Formaline, arrangements were said to have been made for his burial two days later.
To the utter shock of Amadu’s children, relatives and sympathisers, however, the native doctor rose from the casket he was kept in as arrangements were being made to take his corpse to the graveyard, causing the crowd that had gathered for his burial to run in different directions.
The ‘resurrection’ of Amadu two days after his ‘death’ turned him into an overnight celebrity as people came from far and near to confirm what had happened.
Sharing his experience in an interview with our correspondent, Amadu, who said he has abandoned his career as a native doctor to become an evangelist, recalled that before his sickness and eventual ‘death’ on September 5, he had enjoyed good health and fully attended to patients who came from far distances to his village.
But sometime in July, he began to feel pains in his chest and legs. He said his legs were swollen and he tried treating himself as a native doctor but there appeared to be no improvement, prompting his two eldest children based in Abuja and one of his daughters based in Lafia to rush him to the Federal Medical Centre in Keffi.
At the hospital in Keffi, he was admitted for two weeks after which he was discharged and certified fit. But a week after he returned home, he developed severe chest pain.
He told his children who had gone back to their stations not to take him to the hospital again and also told them repeatedly not to keep his corpse longer than two or three days before burial.
With his condition getting worse, however, his children defied his instruction and returned him to a private hospital in a nearby community where he could get preliminary attention before he would be transferred to the Federal Medical Centre in Keffi where he had been treated before. There, doctors battled to save his life before they thought he had given up the ghost and prepared him for burial.
Also speaking with our correspondent, the eldest son, Jacob, who said his father was declared dead while he was travelling from Abuja to see him on his sick bed in Nasarawa State, said: “I got to the hospital at about 10 am on September 5 and the mortician at the hospital wheeled out the trolley containing my father and unveiled his face for me to see, and it was indeed my father.”
“We advised the hospital not to embalm him because he actually told us repeatedly not to embalm him when he dies and to bury him immediately rather than keep his corpse inside a room.
“So we hurriedly left for the village to mobilise young men to help dig his grave so that we could bury him the second or third day as he had wished.
“On September 7, we brought his corpse to the village in a casket to bury him and sympathisers around the community were crying while others assembled in different locations discussing the sad event of his passing.
“While his body had been displayed in an open roof where he normally attended to his patients as a native doctor, the children brought the casket and put his body inside, preparatory for his burial, but he suddenly doctor rose from the casket.
“We were in the village when we suddenly saw the casket shaking and eventually fell and my father woke up to the surprised of many people in the village. A lot of the men and women who had gathered ran away, believing that it was his ghost.
“I summoned courage as a man to walk up to him and got a seat for him to sit on. He was not talking.
“I later held his hand and led him to the bathroom. He had a bath and after a few hours, he requested for food. He ate and then relaxed. “In the evening of the next day, he started talking a little and on the third day, he tried to narrate his experience.”
In an interview with our correspondent one week after he ‘resurrected’, Amadu said he could not fully recollect all that transpired during his struggles in the throes of death except that he was writhing in pains at one moment, felt relieved moments later and found himself in another world.
Amadu said: “I thank God that he has given me life again after tasting death. It is a miracle that God gave me a second chance and I think I will dedicate the days he has given me to live again to worship him and preach his gospel.
“My journey to heaven was a tranquil one. I feel very confused about what God has done to me. All I can remember for now is that I lost my memory when I was sick, but people later gathered in my village to mourn my passing.
“The cloud opened up and I saw something like a giant golden satellite suspended in space. I wouldn’t know whether this is what the bible calls heaven, but there I was greeted by a 75ft tall angel who stood in front of the gate.
“The angel had a beautiful sword and wore something like golden hair. As I looked round, I discovered that there were two other angels behind him holding pamphlets and books containing the words of God.
“The three angels had a brief discussion among themselves and later allowed me into the city of heaven.
“On entering the city, I met a childhood friend who died 22 years ago. His name was Choko Aguma. He was the one who took me round the city where everybody was committed to worshipping God.
The Nation
