A word from Chief,
It disturbs, disgusts and dissapoints me that stories like this are still told – never mind reported as news in Nigeria.
As long as the Nigerian press continue to cover superstition over substance – I fear that there is no real way forward for this country.
This is why it can never get better.
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FOR the family of Olatunji and Hauwa Agboola, it is a season of celebration and indeed, the family has every reason to celebrate and give thanks unto God for His mercies and compassion. God�s favour to them was not what the family could do in the secrecy of their Omosuwa Estate at Kosofe, Ketu residence. So, they chose the presence of over one thousand worshippers who gathered at Laughter Foundation Cathedral located along Kudirat Abiola Way in Oregun, Ikeja, to tell the story of how the mother of three, Mrs. Hauwa Agboola carried her fourth pregnancy since February 2002 to September 17, 2006. With her husband and Pastor Oladimeji Agboola standing by her side, Hauwa told her emotional story.
�I thank God for giving me all the children and keeping me alive to tell this story,� she began before an attentive church audience. �I had been pregnant since February 2002. It was my fourth pregnancy because I�d already had three children before this time.
�The pregnancy lasted for so long that people started mocking me. Even members of the church I was attending, a white garment church where my husband was pastor, started mocking me. I was pregnant for one and half years then. It was an embarrassment but my husband said we should continue to pray. �When the mockery became too much, I decided to start attending another church. I�d gone to several churches and herbalists because of the pregnancy. Sometimes, the pregnancy would be big, sometimes, it would be small. You could see me this week with big tummy and the next week with small tummy. People kept looking at me with pity or were surprised. My husband and I were embarrassed. At one stage, my husband�s sister came and after looking at my condition, she asked my husband what was going on. She decided to take us to a church first and then, a herbalist. But nothing happened.
�She said �okay, let�s go to hospital for scan� and so we did. The scan showed nothing. One day, during the third year of the pregnancy, my husband took me to Alapere for another scan. I drank too much water for the scan to show very well. I took four litres of water and I told them it was too much.
�I told them it was not my first pregnancy, that I had been pregnant three times before this one. I already have two boys and a girl. So, I told them, it wasn�t the first time I�d done a scan. They said they were not sure I was pregnant. I told them they should do the scan and write whatever they discovered on their paper. After drinking a lot of water, they did the scan and the result showed negative. We took the result to the hospital.
�It was after the last scan that the person told me to try traditional method. We were charged some money and my husband rallied round to raise the money. They put me on special diet and I kept eating. I asked the herbalist why I was being giving too much to eat but she said I should eat everything I was given. And they also put me on bathing, like spiritual bathe but not happened after six months.
�At that point, I was also bleeding. They told me I would stop bleeding after the eating and the bathing but nothing happened. The Mama (herbalist) told me not to worry. I stayed there for another six months and that�s one year now and no result, so I left.�
But Mrs. Hauwa did not give up. On their own, she and her husband kept praying, waiting for result. They began to confide in people who are close to them and they kept coming up with all manners of advice and possible solutions.
�We began to tell people and one woman took us to Badagry where I was given different incisions. But nothing happened. From Badagry, we went to Ado Ekiti but nothing happened, no result. I was back to square one. My husband said we should continue until we got solution. We prayed and prayed and people took us to all kinds of places. No change.�
Mrs. Agboola recalled how her husband�s brother told them to go to Ayinke House and evacuate whatever was in my stomach to avoid calamity. But she resisted. Another friend, a nurse, according to her gave them an address in Obanikoro.
�My husband and I went to Obanikoro to see another doctor and on discovery that he and my husband are from the same place, the doctor advised my husband that he be allowed to evacuate the contents of my stomach. He said there was nothing in my stomach. Now, we are talking about a medical doctor who spent over 15 years overseas as gynaecologist. He conducted another test and said there was no child in my stomach. He said he would give me an injection to help evacuate the contents.
�One of the nurses in the hospital gave me a seat outside. I was there when my husband came to meet me and I told him I was not doing any evacuation. I removed my slippers and held them in my hand and began to run away from the hospital.
�They begged me to stop and calmed me down and said I should come back tomorrow for it since they could not do the work in a hot afternoon. My husband had already paid money for the evacuation and so we left.
�The next morning, we came back and the doctor refunded the money my husband paid. He said he would not do the evacuation again because he had a terrible dream at night where little kids, a lot of them flogged him so much. He was showing us patches on his skin but I told him I saw nothing. He said the kids flogged him till day-break until he begged them and told them he would not evacuate the woman�s womb and that under no circumstances would the pregnancy be flushed out in his hospital. He told us he has never had such an experience in his medical career either in the United States or Nigeria. He said if he receives that kind of beating again, he would die. So, he asked us to leave.�
As the congregation listened with rapt attention, occasionally shouting �prasie God,� the woman at the centre of it all, revealed how she almost lost her daughter while seeking help over the mystery pregnancy.
�My advice to people,� she continued, �is that no matter their condition or circumstances in life, God will see them through. I saw hell but since September 17 that I put to bed this bouncing baby boy, I have forgotten the stress.
�I almost lost my daughter in the process because one day I was going to church with my daughter, we entered a public transport. My daughter entered first but before I could get in, they drove off with my daughter. I was screaming in the middle of the road until people stopped the vehicle. They threw out my daughter from the vehicle and drove off in a hurry.
�It was then I decided I was not going anywhere again. I began to stay at home. I stopped going to church or hospital or anywhere.
�Then, one day, I saw Laughter Foundation on TV. I heard Pastor Gbenga Osho preach. I was with my husband and followed the direction he was giving on TV. When he finished teaching and wanted to pray, my husband and I knelt down.
When he asked that those watching him should bring water, we did. He prayed and put out hands on TV and then we drank the water. That was the first week of July. �For the first time, I felt a movement in my body. All these years, all I was feeling was pain. I was bleeding. Large clots of blood and sometimes, I would be crawling because I could not walk. But after the prayer, we drank the water pastor prayed on and things changed.
�That�s how I began to attend Laughter Foundation. I did not tell anybody anything when I came. I was just coming for service.
�By the second week in August, I could not work. I did not go to any hospital. I just left myself in God�s hand. But then, in September, the pain became unbearable. I told one of my children to call the church and when he did, somebody answered. I told them I was pregnant for five years and they should pray for me. The person prayed and then gave me pastor�s number.
�I bought cassettes from the church and began to play them at home. Everyday, I would play the cassettes, everywhere. In the kitchen, in the parlour, in the bedroom, everywhere. That was what I was doing until I called the pastor. I gave him my name and he told me not to worry, that God was in control.
�Then, on September 17, I put to bed. My child�s names are many: Moses, Enitan, Iyanuoluwa, Miracle, Ayomide, Oluwafunmilayo, Precious, Oluwadamilare Agboola.�
Only God can do a thing like this � Pastor Osho
Pastor Gbenga Osho said what happened to Mr. Olatunji and his wife Hauwa, could not be detached from the hands of the wicked.
�Many wicked things happen in this life. The wicked are getting more desperate than ever. A pregnancy is supposed to last for forty weeks but if this baby could survive for close to five years in the womb, it shows what God can do. I am encouraging you to believe in God more than ever ebfore. God is alive. �Only God understands why a baby would remain for so long in the womb and still be the way a baby should be. �There was no expected date of delivery (EDD) for this baby. Scan did not discover the baby, only God did. And since 1997 when this ministry came to be, we�d never seen such a thing in Lagos except a woman who was pregnant for one and half years.
�But before we moved to Lagos, we were in Ibadan and we had a case of a woman who was pregnant for eight years. She came to us and we put her and her husband on three days of fasting with three-hour prayer intervals. We were praying on the third day when the woman went into labour. That was in Ibadan and that was the only case similar to this one. But like I said, it is the hand of the wicked but God is wonderful and can do all things.
�We should hold unto God at all times because only He can do all things.�