“What I remember is that I was in a vehicle and traveled a long distance. When I got there, there were many people and there was a lot of celebration and merriment and the people were happy. But they did not allow me to stay with them. They said I should go back and repeat my work.”
These were the narrations by a 70 year old man, Amos Otene, who reportedly resurrected after spending over 30 hours in a hospital mortuary in Makurdi, the Benue state capital. He spoke on Wednesday at his Old GRA residence in Makurdi, about his encounter with death as well-wishers continued to troop there to catch a glimpse of the resurrected man.
Otene added: “I am much better now and I thank God for everything and I also owe many thanks to the hospital for taking care of me and my family members who have been worried. I hope they will continue to be with me until I am completely free from this stress.”
According to report, doctors at a private hospital in the town had on August 26, 2015, certified Otene dead at 4. 30 am and promptly covered him up and wheeled him into the mortuary, awaiting instructions from members of the family for embalmment.
Eche, one of his children who lives in Lafia, Nasarawa state was said to have visited and was taken to the mortuary to confirm that his father had indeed passed on. According to Eche, at about 1.39 pm, the morticians at the hospital wheeled out the trolley containing my father and unveiled the face for me to see.
Report had it that Otene was admitted on August 25, after he complained of severe tooth ache which had persisted for several days. As the news of Otene’s death spread, family members and other sympathizers continued to throng the hospital.
Doctors, who according to reports, further proved that Otene was dead, extracted the requisite body fluid and other substances from the corpse, for post mortem examination which was to ultimately reveal the cause of death.
Eche said: “In the process of wheeling my late dad into the mortuary, he started raising his right hand and all of us fled towards the reception area of the mortuary. From a safe distance, we watched as my father lifted himself and sat on the bed and that was about seven minutes later. One of the attendants eventually summoned enough courage and approached my father who fell back on the trolley.
“The doctors ordered that my resurrected father be readmitted in the ward where some medication was administered and he was placed on fresh round of drips. He remained in the ward till Tuesday when the doctors carried out series of tests and certified Otene fit for discharge.
Meanwhile, medical experts have said that Otene could not have died in the first place and that the question of resurrection was out of the question. The only explanation, according to a Makurdi-based medical practitioner, Dr. Ameh Edache, was that he was in a long coma.
“He was in a long coma if he came back to life before embankment,”Edache said.
Until his retirement in 2012, Otene was said to have worked at the Department of Forestry of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture in Makurdi. [myad]
