Deformed by thunderstorm, healed 46 years after by thunder blast

Residents of Bioku Alaaadun community, Ibadan, Oyo State were jolted to a pleasant surprise when Kehinde Olasunkanmi, who became dumb and was crippled 46 years ago after a thunder storm, began to walk and talk again after a deafening thunder blast that trailed a downpour in Ibadan recently. AKINWALE ABOLUWADE, who visited the community, reports:

 

Life has, indeed, dealt Mr Kehinde Olasunkanmi a treacherous blow that cost him many years of sorrow and anguish. Now at age 55, he has just begun to learn to talk and walk again like a baby that is still strapped to the apron’s string of its mother. Kehinde, a native of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, had walked, talked and led a normal life with Taiwo, his twin brother, until the tragedy that marked a turning point in his life struck 46 years ago.

Taiwo and Kehinde had just had their lunch after returning from school one rainy day in 1972. They had gone outside the house to wash their hands when a strong whirlwind blew following a thunder blast. The twin brothers collapsed in the commotion. By the time their parents rushed out to see what had happened, Taiwo was lying lifeless on the ground while Kehinde was writhing in pain and rolling helplessly on the ground.

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That misfortune marked the beginning of sorrow for the poor family that eked out a living from proceeds of small farm which they cultivated. Their mother, Mrs Omolewa Olasunkanmi, described the experience since the tragedy struck 46 years ago as a “long tortuous battle of life”. She said that although things had never been rosy for the family before the incident, the event of that year launched them into greater misery.

“It all started like a drama. I had never seen anybody struck or killed by whirlwind and thunder in my life. That day, my children were outside to wash their hands after eating and we heard a blast and a rush of wind so we rushed out to see what had happened. On getting outside the house, Taiwo was found dead while Kehinde was panting for breath and rolling on the ground. We rushed him to the hospital and he recovered after treatment. Surprisingly, Kehinde became dumb and paralysed. He could no longer talk or walk.”

All attempts to put Kehinde back on his feet and make him talk again failed.

“We started by taking him from one hospital another. We took him to the University College Hospital and many other hospitals. After that, we started seeking spiritual remedy for him by moving from church to church and later to several other spiritual homes but all efforts were to no avail. I can say that there was nothing possible within our reach that we did not do out of desperation to put Kehinde back to normal life having lost his brother to death,” she recalled.

Although she did not give the details of what happened, Mrs Olasunkanmi said that she lost her sight as well as her husband to the struggle to put Kehinde back to his feet. She stated that she was compelled to resign to fate when attempts to restore her son to normal life failed. “The situation became worse when my husband died and I lost my sight. I was unable to work and the other children were too young to fend for us. Life became so hard and unbearable for us as we could not afford to feed and I didn’t want to beg for alms,” she said.

When the hope of survival became dicey, Kehinde started begging for alms under a tree opposite Bioku Alaaadun Grammar School. Most times, he would drag on his buttocks to his destinations. He lived under the tree for 46 years before he miraculously regained the ability to walk and talk. His mother recounted: “It happened one fateful day in the month of June, this year. It was raining heavily and there came this fierce thunder blast that frightened everybody in the neighbourhood. Several minutes after the thunder blast, some people came to my residence. I was shocked and worried that perhaps something bad had happened to Kehinde but they told me that my son had been healed miraculously and was able to walk and talk again. I really thank God that my son can now lead a normal life once again. But I feel sad that I cannot see him because I am blind. This confirms the saying that weeping may endure all night but joy comes in the morning.

“Now, I am appealing to people to help me raise money for him to settle down to begin a normal life and stop begging. I had travailed over my son and now I am happy that God has answered my prayer”.

To many people, Kehinde’s story is like that of the biblical man with infirmity who had stayed beside the pool at Bethesda in wait for healing for 38 years. Although Kehinde had lived for 46 years under the tree without any hope of a respite, his case was intriguing to his family members, neighbours and passersby who described his experience a big miracle.

The General Secretary, Bioku Alaaadun Community, Mr Adeyanju Oladejo, described the story of Kehinde as a pathetic experience that ended joyfully. He said: “Kehinde is very popular in the community and those who didn’t know him thought that he was a madman. He was dumb, crippled and was always under the tree where people gave him money”. Lawal Dauda, another resident of the area, said: “One can only say that Kehinde’s life is a demonstration of God’s miracle. I had never seen a miracle in my life but I knew that the man was neither able to walk nor talk. He was healed miraculously after a scary thunder blast”.

His brother’s wife said that Kehinde’s condition was of serious concern to the family but “there was nothing meaningful that we could do to help him before he regained his strength because we are just struggling for survival. My husband is a truck driver and I am a housewife. The other siblings are also just managing so he was always going out to beg for money to eat. I like him so much because he is very pleasant and respectful. I am very happy that he has regained his strength to walk and is able to talk.”

Kehinde described himself as a product of God’s mercy. He said he had resigned to fate because he never knew that his story could ever change. According to him, the experience of June 30 was a demonstration of mercy of God. “That is why I call the tree under which I sat for 46 years as a beggar the ‘Tree of Mercy’. I am happy for the wonderful turning-point in my life. It is the wonderful work of God and it is marvelous to me.”

Asked what could have led to Kehinde’s recovery, a chief physiotherapist at UCH said: “A thing like this does not have a place or explanation in medicine. It can only be in mystery. You cannot prove that someone who had not been able to walk for over 40 years suddenly stood up and started walking. It has to be subjected to thorough investigation even beyond the scope of medicine, maybe the meteorologist will also be able to explain”.

When contacted, Amuda Tijani, a Sango priestess, said what happened to the family of Olasunkanmin was not accidental but spiritual. She said the tragedy could have been masterminded by evil people or could be because Sango, the Yoruba god of thunder, was angry with the family and needed to be appeased. “Such a thing is very possible and it happens in a situation where the family is required to present a sacrifice to Sango for appeasement, but we cannot be too sure if that is what is responsible, or possibly it happened as a result of evil machination by some wicked plotters.

“There is the need to inquire for the cause of the problem from the oracle because it is beyond human comprehension. Whatever is responsible for what happened, the man has been restored but the family can still go further to investigate what was responsible in order to prevent such an occurrence within the family in the future,” Tijani said.

Kehinde said he was getting better after being treated at the hospital but appealed to members of the public to help raise money to start up a business in order to live a normal life and not go back to begging. He explained that it would be difficult for him and his mother to feed without a stable means of living. “I want members of the society to please rise to my aid by raising money for me to start a business with which I can feed myself and my mother. Now that I can talk and walk again, I believe that I can still contribute my little quota to the society and also be able to feed and get married and have children.

“I have lived in very miserable condition in the past 46 years but I give all glory to God for giving me an opportunity to live a normal life. I am getting stronger by the day and I believe that in about one month’s time, I shall be strong enough to start work but I cannot do that without having money to live on. I appeal to kindhearted Nigerians to please help me,” he pleaded.