Boy cheats death, survives slit throat in robbery attack

• Receives N25 million lifeline from T.B. Joshua
Left for dead following a gruesome robbery attack, a 13-year-old boy, Praise Sunday, has made a remarkable recovery. The daredevils struck on May 8, 2016 in Agbor, Delta State.

Praise, his 10-year-old sister, and mother, Edith, a widow, were startled as armed strangers barged into their living room, demanding money. The meagre cash from her small provision store was judged insufficient. The raiders wanted an ATM card, which wasn’t forthcoming. As a result, they unleashed madness.

The men bound the hands of their victims and began a grisly slaughter. Praise watched with terror as his sister was dragged into an adjoining room and her throat was cut. With bloodied hands, they seized his mother, raped her, stabbed her multiple times, and slit her throat. They shoved Praise into the same room. And as he looked shockingly at the lifeless body of his mother and sister, the villains plunged their knives into his chest and cut his throat. Convinced he was dead, they took to their heels.

As life ebbed from his body, Praise recalled a whitish figure picked him off the floor and put him down at his neighbour’s doorstep. It was the last thing he remembered until he opened his eyes at a hospital’s intensive care unit. The neighbours, Judith and her husband, said they heard loud pounding on their door. When they turned the key, they found Praise in a pool of his own blood.

As a precaution, they rushed Praise to the nearest police station, to report the matter, after which pregnant Judith was asked to proceed to the hospital with the child, while her husband stayed back to recount the gory details. Frantic calls were also made to Praise’s kinfolks. (Judith eventually lost her advanced pregnancy due to shock.)

Praise’s life hung by a thread. His vocal cords were severely damaged. For nine months, he merely stared at the world, unable to mumble even a word. From the General Hospital in Agbor, he was transferred to the Federal Medical Centre. After seven major surgical operations in facilities across Nigeria, danger still loomed over the youngster.

Time was running out. Doctors advised he be flown to the United States for additional treatment and restoration of his vocal abilities. There were also fears of complications following the series of complex procedures. With appeals to government institutions meeting a brick wall, Praise’s family members in desperation sought help at the Synagogue, Church Of All Nations.

There, the young man and his aunt were lodged by Prophet T.B. Joshua, as search for a state-of-the-art hospital overseas began. Joshua then sponsored the two to South Africa, and paid for their passports, visas, flight tickets, accommodation, feeding and welfare, totaling US$50,000, to repair damage to the throat and restore Praise’s lost voice.

At the church’s Sunday service on February 12, 2017, Praise amused the audience, as he imitated various voices, to demonstrate his recovery. He brandished two Certificates of Bravery he received from the surgeons who had operated on him. He also displayed two pipes that had once been inserted into his throat. He then threw them away, declaring he no longer needed them to breathe.

“Those who are rich in society, help the poor and the sick. Imitate the man of God, Prophet T.B. Joshua,” said Praise.