The “resurrection” of a local doctor at the site of his burial two days after he was declared dead shocked the Gidan Angalu village in Toto Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, on Tuesday.
Godwin Ugeelu Amadu, age 59, had been declared dead by medical professionals at a private hospital at around 6 am on September 5, 2022, after which he was covered and wheeled into the mortuary while medical professionals and family members awaited the arrival of his eldest son, Mr. Jacob Amadu, who was based in Abuja.
Plans were allegedly made for the deceased native doctor’s burial two days later because of his alleged instructions to his children that he must be buried no later than three days at the hospital before burial and must not be embalmed using Formaline.
However, when preparations were being made to carry Amadu’s body to the cemetery, the native doctor rose from the casket he was confined in, shocking Amadu’s children, relatives, and sympathizers to the point where they fled in different directions.
Amadu’s “resurrection” two days after his “death” made him an instant fame as people traveled great distances to witness what had happened
Amadu, who claimed to have given up his career as a native doctor to become an evangelist, shared his experience with newsmen. Amadu recalled that before his illness and eventual “death” on September 5, he had enjoyed good health and fully attended to patients who had traveled great distances to his village.
However, he started to have chest and leg pain about the middle of July. His two eldest children, who live in Abuja, and one of his daughters, who lives in Lafia, rushed him to the Federal Medical Center in Keffi after he said his legs were swelled and that he attempted treating himself as a native doctor but there didn’t seem to be any progress.
He spent two weeks at the hospital in Keffi before being released and given the all-clear. But a week after arriving home, he started experiencing excruciating chest pain.
He repeatedly warned them not to take him back to the hospital and not to keep his body for more than two or three days before burial. His children had returned to their jobs.
But as his condition worsened, his children disobeyed him and took him back to a neighboring private hospital where he could receive initial care before being taken to the Federal Medical Centre in Keffi where he had previously received treatment. Before they believed he was dead, medics there fought to save his life.
The eldest son, Jacob, also spoke with our correspondent claimed that while he was traveling from Abuja to visit his sick father in Nasarawa State, his father was declared dead. Jacob 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.”
Amadu said he could not fully recall everything that happened during his struggles in the grips of death, other than the fact that he was writhing in pain one moment, felt relieved the next, and then found himself in another world, in an interview with our correspondent one week after he “resurrected.”
“I thank God that He has given me life once more after I had tasted death,” Amadu remarked. The fact that God gave me another chance is a miracle, and I believe I will use the remaining days of my life to praise him and share his gospel.
