Julius Agwu, Nigeria’s foremost comedian, has recounted how he allegedly died and in mysterious circumstances, resurrected.
In an exclusive interview with Punch, Agwu revealed what seems to be taken from the script of a Nollywood movie. The comedian narrated that while unconscious, he had an afterlife encounter with his father who had died 12 years ago, and he would he have remained dead if the spirit of his late father had not chase him back to the land of the living.
Excerpts from the interview; “The truth is that I would not have been alive if not for God. I died and woke up; I literally died and woke up. I say that authoritatively because I know that I had an encounter with people that I know had died during that period. I saw my father who died about 12 years ago; he was the one that came and chased me back to the world because it was not my time. I died here in Nigeria but woke up when they were taking me to the mortuary. That was the first time I had a seizure in my house but my wife stood by me. God would keep on blessing my wife; I believe that God gave me my wife and I always thank him for her. I bless God that she stayed despite everything that happened to me. They were taking me to a mortuary but to God be the glory, my hand moved and that was the point they returned me to the hospital. Here I am today. The encounter made me realise that there is nothing as good as rest. It is very important to sleep. I work so hard and I believe that of all comedians in Nigeria, I am the only one with so many brands, I have Crack Ya Ribs, Laff for Christ’s Sake and Festival of Love.”
Speaking for the first time since his second visit to the hospital over the tumours in his brain, Agwu said that he had a relapse because he did not rest properly after his first surgery. “What happened was that they did an MRI scan and they detected that I had two growths. They removed a tumour at the back of my head which was the size of a golf ball and the other tumour was close to my brain. They advised me that if they touched the other tumour, it could be fatal. They gave me drugs to shrink the tumour but I did not rest well and that is why it came back last year. I did not rest at all, after my surgery in America, I resumed doing my shows. I thank God for everything.
“The truth is that I am back and better. I just want to use this opportunity to tell the people that God is great and this is a time we should all reflect on our life. I would not lie to you, things are not easy in the country and many people are running away from Nigeria. ‘Crack Ya Rib’ was the first Nigerian show that went to London and after that, everybody started taking their shows there. I thank God that ‘Crack Ya Rib’ paved the way for other shows,” said Agwu.
Being the humour peddler that he is, the funnyman said that some people including his dear friend and colleague, Okey Bakassi, believe that his illness was a spiritual attack simply because he once showed interest to contest as the governor of Rivers State. “We live in a country where people are funny. Remember there was a time I made it public that I wanted to contest as a governor for my state, now, people have advised me not to try it again because they believe that my illness was a spiritual attack. We live in a country where people test your power when you announce that you want to contest for an office. My good friend, Okey Bakassi, told me that the illness was a spiritual attack and pleaded with me not to try it again. He said that there was a time he also thought of contesting for a political office but that something happened to him which he said he would never forget. I just kept on laughing,” he said.
