HE DIED IN AUTO CRASH AND RESURRECTED
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It is not everyone who finds himself in the valley of the shadow of death that overcomes the situation. Many have been consumed by the circumstances fate brought upon them. Yet, there were those who emerged victorious even in circumstances beyond human understanding.
Prince Adedokun Ademola Aderemi belongs to the second category. It could be said that he went to the land of the dead and came back. Perhaps, he was rejected there. Perhaps, he had not completed his assignment on this side of the divide. But what is not in doubt is that there was a force that prevailed upon his life hence he did not die. Interestingly, he admitted that 'death,' as he experienced it, was blissful.
Adedokun's journey to the land of the dead started when he got mangled in a ghastly automobile accident. It was a head on collision between a bus and the car he was driving, which left him fatally wounded and the car a complete wreck.
After the accident, Adedokun, who is an only child of his parents, was bleeding from all sides as he sustained multiple fractures. His left leg, the femur, tibia and fibula were all crushed. The right leg was fractured. The left and right wrists as well as his ribs were equally broken. There was a deep cut through his scapula into the heart's encasement. His left arm was badly bruised with deep cuts. His cheekbones and nose were also damaged. Only his eyes were not affected.
Ironically, those who arrived the scene of the accident abandoned Adedokun. They left him because the wreckage was so terrible that they thought that he had been crushed. They rather attended to the passengers aboard the lorry many of who also sustained serious injuries while some died. It was a chaotic situation. Blood flowed freely. Some of the victims trembled and wailed in pains.
Several hours after he went into coma, Adedokun started hearing the faint voices of the rescue team. With the last strength in him, he tried to move his body and grunted. Luckily, some heard the sound and moved closer to the wrecked car and beheld his mangled body gasping for breath.
He was eventually evacuated to the hospital where he spent one and half years. Indeed, he was bedridden. He was fed like a tot and he passed faeces on the bed. It was really an almost hopeless situation. Most of those who had pretended to be his friends when the going was good and relations abandoned him to his fate. Only a few genuine ones identified with him in his trying moment.
Speaking with Saturday Sun , Adedokun narrated his chilling encounter with death and how, against all odds, he survived.
It all began on May 27, 1987 when he was travelling for the Id-el-fitri holiday. He had just returned to Ibadan from a trip to England where he stayed for several months to complete his doctorate degree programme. Because for some time he had not seen his family in Oshogbo, he decided to drive there that evening to spend the holiday with them.
However, he began to have some ominous feelings that was characteristic of him, a feeling that something untoward awaited him. It appeared to him that he might have an accident on his way to Oshogbo. But being a devout Christian, he felt that if he prayed, the problem would be taken care of. So, he held on to his rosary, said a few prayer points and hung the rosary on the rear mirror of his car to ensure some kind of divine protection.
He was meticulous enough to check the vehicle properly, to detect any problem that it might have. Satisfied that all was well, he took off to Oshogbo. It was a smooth ride all through till he got to a place called Ogi, which is very close to his destination. He was about to negotiate a bend when a lorry on high speed emerged suddenly and collided with his car. All he heard thereafter was a loud bang before passing out.
He said: 'It was a hopeless situation and my soul fled my body. I found myself in space floating with other bodies - heavenly bound. We were large in number and symmetrically arranged that none was ahead the other. It was like war planes symmetrically positioned in the sky. I was number one.
My experience in this state was absolute tranquility and fathomless joy. It was a wonderful experience and I lack adequate language to describe. We were flying at ultra high altitude where there could be no earthly interference. I recognized my present body. I lost complete memory of where I was coming from. I did not remember I lived on earth, had a family: wife, children and relations. I didn't remember my achievements, failures, aspiration, sorrows and happiness. No knowledge of who I was and who owns what. The mind was occupied with pure happiness.
We were heading towards a bright soothing light where there were bands of jubilating angels welcoming new arrivals. Before I reached the dazzling illumination there must have been a sudden detour. I found myself inside the wreckage of my car. My experience of death was very sweet and soothing. My taste of heaven, a glimpse of it, was supremely peaceful, full of love and happiness. I now strongly believe more than ever before that there is a happier planet in space. And if that is where God is, I think heaven is something we should work hard or look forward to at the end of this tortuous and laborious existence.
Sympathizers and rescuers did not find life in me. They confirmed I was dead. So instead of breaking the wreckage of my car and removing my lifeless body they attended to the bus, which had some dead and several wounded passengers. I was the only one in my car and I had been badly pinned in the wreckage.
'I think God sent my soul back into my body simply to let me know what killed me before finally giving up the ghost. I had revelations in my car. It was like a man having a television screen in front of him in which all his life struggles and achievements were shown chronologically. At the end of the last scene was a big question: 'What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his life?'
'At this point, the soul started moving out of my body. I felt the physical movement. As the soul moved to the centre of my chest my lower part from abdomen to the limbs became completely exhausted. It was also affecting my head gradually. My head started dropping little by little and was about to make a final death drop when I saw the two crosses I hung inside my car. I was face-to-face with Jesus Christ.' As I sighted the crosses I remembered God and I made frantic appeal to Jesus Christ. I made loud supplications to the cross to save me from death. Death was certain and I knew I could not escape it unless Christ interceded. I intensified my prayer until the soul instead of moving out started moving up and down my thoraxic cavity. It was like a moment of indecision for the soul as it paced up and down. I started shouting my prayer.
' On regaining consciousness through the invocation of the holy cross, I made feeble but frantic appeal to people who were salvaging the offending commuter bus. I managed to tell people out there that I am a lecturer with the University of Ibadan and going to Egbatedo street to see my wife and children.
'Miraculously someone who knew Egbatedo Street heard me and came to my aid. He expressed surprise to find me alive as they had declared me dead. And as I was in the car wreckage they decided to ignore me till they had attended to the dead and those injured in the bus. I confirmed being dead but gracious God sent back my soul after supplication. I then implored him to cut off my left leg from the thigh to ease the murderous pain I was going through. But I was not accessible as I had been totally traooed in the wreckage. He needed an axe to break the wreckage before succeeding in cutting the agonizing leg. When he returned from the village with an axe he couldn't cut my leg out of compassion.
Other people joined him. They devised subtle methods to remove me – through the passenger door. May Almighty God bless them all and lengthen their lives. Whatever happened from that point till now have been specially handled, and controlled by the Almighty God. Timely help and provision. Divine love and support from all and sundry, were special favours from God Himself. How my pulses (blood vessels) collapsed due to lack of blood, how I got blood transfusion, who provided the blood and how I survived the accident would remain a miracle which the participating staff of the State Hospital, Osogbo, would narrate with awe and reverence to the Almighty God for many years to come.
For over five months I lay on the hospital bed on my back not able to turn or even sit up. My legs and arms were in P.O.P. (cement casting). I lay still, looking skyward. This was the position in which I was fed and also eased myself. It was terrible'.
Today, Adedokun limps but he has surrendered his life or what is left of it to Jesus Christ. He has become an evangelist, preaching the good news of salvation and the saving grace of God although he still lectures. He has also found a road safety foundation in appreciation of the miraculous way God saved his life.
'My survival, is one grand design by God to show how powerful He is. It also revealed that I have a mission to accomplish before I die. The mission is the propagation of the powers of the holy cross, ' concluded the 59-year old man.