Editor-in-Chief, Vanguard newspapers, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye said he died and was brought back to life on Monday.
Adefaye whose blood pressure was said to be at 80/40 when he was revived, recounted his ordeals during the Vanguard’s annual Media Christian Fellowship, which held at the newspapers corporate headquarters in Lagos yesterday.
Narrating his near death experience, he said: “On Monday, a lot of you would have heard the story that I collapsed and I was revived here by the grace of God. I have been to the hospital for clinical check-up and I was certified okay. I need to share with you from my experience because we need to learn from each other’s experience.
I have been to churches and I have heard people giving testimonies of how they died and saw hell, heaven, spirit and I would call them jokers (awon oni yeye). But I can tell you that it happened to me.
I died here on Monday. I have a witness; the nurse, she is here. I died and came back. Not because of strength, money or brilliance but because of God and that I still have assignment here on earth.
I have a small narration so that we can all learn from it. I am sharing my testimony for the learning point. Normally on Mondays, we have marathon meetings, which can be exhausting. Sometimes when we finish, depending on the mood, I will ask my secretary to get my food for me.
Last Monday was particularly stressful for me. The day before, this young man had jolted me with some nasty information that kept me awake throughout the night, because we have some flashy programmes that we are running.
I am going to be very open: medical information are supposed to be confidential, but because of the peculiarity of what happened to me, I am going to be very open. I have been treating high blood pressure for years. It is either what I acquired on hereditary note or based on the nature of our job. The report I have from our hospital was that more than 65 percent of our staff are hypertensive.
Nobody can say on health matters I have been negligent. I do not joke with my health. Apart from the company’s hospital, anywhere I am, I always retain a personal hospital. The hospital I used here in Lagos, if I put them on the medical board, they are of high standard and I have benefited a lot from them.
In terms of medicare, I try to give myself the best. It is when you are alive that you can spend money. In any case, do not deceive yourself. I took my medication on hypertension in the morning and I went for my assignment. We finished the marathon meeting and instead of going to the office, something told me to go and eat with my colleagues.
At the canteen, Theodore Opara went to take our meal and two of us sat together. I took one wrap of pounded yam which I could not finish. Then Theodore looked at me and said ‘Oga you are not feeling fine’ and I said ‘yes I am not.
He poured water for me, which I drank. All of a sudden, I started sweating and all I knew was that I raised my hand to wipe my face and I was gone. It is only Theodore that can tell the other part of the story because I was not here. I did not know what happened.
Water was poured on my head and I came back. I asked what happened to me and I was told that I was vibrating all over. My hands were shaking, eyes came out popped, tongue full wide and then my hands dropped.
I came back to life. The nurse came and I was escorted to the company’s clinic. I was given saline water and when my blood pressure was checked, it had dropped to 80/40. The nurse had to boost the blood pressure to 90/65 which was okay for me to go home. I went straight to my hospital to meet my doctor.
The review was taken and the doctor said I was lucky, that more than 95 percent of my cases did not survive it. The doctor said what saved me was that I was in the company of people and that if I was alone in my office, I would have slumped on the chair and nobody would have known what happened.