by Oluwole Awolowo, 1942 – 2013
SATURDAY, the 30th of September,2006, has come and gone but it has left an indelible mark of history for me due to my involvement in a fatal motor accident at Quarry area, a distance of about 15 kilometers from Ibadan on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
I did not suspect any danger ahead. The day started like any other as I took off from Ikenne to attend a meeting in Ibadan around 9.am in Peugeot 605 car in the company of two other persons.
It is no gainsaying the fact that I am a seasoned and cautious driver, who has neither been hit by anybody nor hit anybody since I obtained my driver’s licence in 1957. A span of 50 years.
It is also customary for me never to exceed 100 kilometres while driving and I don’t look sideways, I do not stop to buy anything while on a journey just as I always plan my journey ahead.
From 1957 till date, I have travelled far and wide driving myself to and from Abuja, Lagos and Ibadan. The same goes for various cities from South to North, West to East and in the last five years, I have conveniently and consistently driven myself from my base ((Ikenne) to my office (Ibadan) from Mondays to Fridays, without any hitch.
As a matter of fact, I prefer driving myself to any other driver and going by my simple calculation, I should have covered about 200,000 kilometres in the last five years from Ikenne to Ibadan, not to talk of other places.
Since I had a great faith in Christiandom since 1989, it has become the practice for me to cover myself with the blood of Jesus Christ whenever I am going out. I used to recite the Book of Revelation. (Rev 22:2: In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruits every morning. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations), which I did accordingly on the bloody day of the accident. To cut the story short, a truck (trailer) was in my front on the expressway while another was following me closely in full speed, trying to overtake my vehicle.
Mindful of the havoc the one at the back could cause, I decided to move to the other lane, but unknown to me, another trailer was there just as the one in front had blocked my view.
As I made for the last lane meant for motorcycles and passers- by I ran into another trailer which had developed a fault and which had reportedly been parked there for sometime. In a jiffy, confusion set in, the roof of the car had gone, the occupant of the back seat was thrown on the front while the man beside me found himself on the floor of the mangled car.
As for me, my right leg was trapped between the gear and the engine while my head hit the wind screen, resulting in a very deep cut on the forehead. I was in the pool of my blood.
I was afraid that I might die of shock if urgent action was not taken, hence I concentrated and comported myself just as the thought of Psalm 118: 17 came to my mind and I started saying: “I shall not die,”
While Satan was tormenting us in the wreckage, I was shouting for help from passers-by with my left hand while I held my head with my right hand to prevent more blood from gushing out.
To my utmost surprise, most cars sped off without bothering to know what happened to us until a woman came to our rescue. But, unfortunately, as she tried to start her car’s engine in order to convey us to the hospital, the car caught fire!
At around 10:30 a.m, God’s intervention came miraculously and the devil vanished as three young men came out of their car to get us out of the wreckage and I pleaded with them to be mindful of my leg, which was stuck around the gear so as to avoid destruction of my spinal cord.
Suddenly, one of them raised alarm, “so, Uncle Wole Awolowo is the one!” Thereafter, I gave them five hundred naira (N5oo:oo) to buy sachet water to pour on my head and that they should take me to Oke-Bola, Ibadan.
Thereafter, information about the accident got to my sister, Rev. (Mrs.) Tola Oyediran, and people from all walks of life started coming until we found our way to the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan. However, I had received first aid at St. George’s Hospital, Oke-Bola, Ibadan, where Dr. Femi Ogunlusi stitched my head.
To my greatest surprise, hardly had we landed in the hospital (UCH) when the Governor of Oyo State, Otunba Christopher Alao-Akala, broke protocol to visit me at the hospital. I learnt he drove himself to the hospital without a security detail!
A brilliant, courageous, forthright hero, Otunba Alao-Akala is admired and revered not only for his eloquence, but also for championing the cause of wheeling me on the stretcher for all the medical tests, scanning and X-ray throughout the day.
He is a man loyal to his friends. He did prove that he has loyalty that stretches beyond party, beyond sectionalism. I am equally short of words in expressing my gratitude to all the people from Lagos, Ikenne, Abeokuta, most especially the executive governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, who expressed concern and affection throughout the period.
I started thanking God for His mercies on everyone of us in the car as no one could believe that anybody could come out alive from the car.
That morning I got caught in a hurry. As I drove on, the Lord spoke to me. “You broke the law,” I agreed. Breaking a man made-law was serious enough, but I was guilty of breaking a far greater eternal rhythm. I had submitted to the sin of hurry.
That little body I have is, I do believe, the greatest weight I have on my conscience. For I realize from this moment it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature. We should not hurry; we should not be impatient. But we should confidently obey the eternal rhythm. If that little butterfly could always flutter before me to show me the way. How can we avoid the sin of hurry? By absolutely surrendering to Him, releasing ourselves from imposed deadlines, and living in the rhythm of all to Jesus I freely give, with no apologies, no excuses, no regrets.
Living moment by moment in obedience to His timing Lord God, Creator of time and eternity, forgive me for submitting to the sin of hurry.
Culled from: Every Saint has a past; every sinner has a future.