"I died and came back to life"- Patience Ebele Jonathan

First lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, Sunday, said she died and woke up
during the periodof her ailment which necessitated her absence from
the country for almost three months.


In a thanksgiving service at the state House chapel in Abuja, the
first lady said prayers offered by Nigerians sustained her while some
people who had taken her for dead had began selling her properties.


According to her, she underwent seven surgery operations within one
month and the doctors had given up hope on her survival.
She said: "I remember when Chief Obasanjo was the President of the
country, I was close to his late wife, Stella. We worshiped together
in this chapel.


"It was a painful moment for me that time when she died and her corpse
was brought here.

"That was how my corpse would have been brought here. It was not an
easy experience for me. I actually died, I passed out for more than a
week. My intestine and tummy were opened.

"I am not Lazarus but my experience was similar to his. My doctors
said all hope was lost.


"A black doctor in London who is with us in this service was flown in
when the situation became critical. It was God himself in His infinite
mercy that said I will return to Nigeria. God woke me up after seven
days.


"I know that some people somehow leaked the information that I was
dead. They are people that I trust and rely on; to them, I was dead
and I would never return to the countryalive. Some of them even sold
my things off.


"I won't say everything here. It is the Lord's doing that I returned
alive. When God says yes, nobody can say no.


"People are always afraid of operation (surgery) but in my own case,
while my travail lasted, I was begging for it (surgery) after the
third operation because I was going to the theatre everyday.


"It was God who saw me through. I did eightor nine operations within
one month. It was not an easy one.