I Died, Resurrected After Seven Days - First Lady

Nigeria:

Nigeria's first lady Dame Patience Jonathan yesterday stunned the entire congregation at the Aso Villa Chapel with a revelation that she actually died and resurrected after seven days, during her eight-week sojourn in a German hospital last year.

Dame Jonathan's confession is a sharp contrast to her statement at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, when she was received on October 7, 2012, by a crowd of well wishers on her return to the country after several weeks of absence.

She had strongly refuted stories in the media claiming she had been undergoing treatment for food poisoning, with some reports even claiming she had died. She had attributed the stories to mischief-makers and those who bore her ill-will.

The first lady had told reporters on arrival at the airport: "I did not have a terminal illness or cosmetic surgery.I thank God Almighty for bringing me back... God has a plan for all of us."

But speaking yesterday at the thanksgiving service held to mark her survival, Dame Patience likened her experience to that of the biblical Lazarus, disclosing that her tummy was burst open, a situation which led her to undergo nine surgical operations within a period of one month. Unlike most people who dread surgical operation, she started begging for it after the third one, she said.

She further stated that some of her associates whom she trusted and relied heavily on leaked the information that she was dead, adding that some of the traitors even started selling off her belongings in the belief that would never return to the country alive.

She said: "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 would 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 trusted and relied on; to them, I was dead and I would never return to the country alive. Some of them even sold my things off