Our pastor had premonition of plane crash –Victim’s wife

The Gwarimpa home of Dr. Abiodun Jonathan has been receiving sympathisers trooping in to commiserate with his wife, Funmi, over the death of her husband in the Dana plane crash on Sunday.
Until his death,   Jonathan, a pediatrician, served as an assistant pastor with a branch of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Abuja. He assumed the  position in 2005. He was born on April 8, 1971, and hailed from Sabongida Ora in Edo State.
Looking subdued and surrounded by friends and relatives, Funmi put up a bold face, smiling in response to greetings and words of encouragement from sympathisers. She tried to hide her pain behind a calm mien even as she received telephone calls intermittently.
Funmi said her pastor had last Thursday seen a vision that a parishioner would be “forcefully uprooted from our midst” and the congregation had prayed against sudden death.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Jonathan had only on Sunday handed over the administration of the church to a new person before boarding the ill-fated plane.
She said, “Last Thursday, the senior pastor of our church saw a vision that someone was forcefully uprooted from our midst and the whole church prayed against it.
“As if my husband knew something would happen to him, he handed over the church administration to the new administrator before he travelled and the next thing we heard was that he was involved in the plane crash.”
The mother of three stated that her late husband was quite close to his patients whom he prayed for constantly. She described Jonathan as a hero who lived his life for Christ and encouraged others to be conscious of the reality of eternity.
“He was a man that lived for Christ and if there was anything I learnt from him, it was that eternity is a reality we must prepare for,” Funmi said.
On how the children were taking the incident, she said they understood that their father had transited to heaven, pointing out that the children would continue to abide by their father’s instructions despite his demise.
Funmi said she had no regrets knowing her late husband whom she met and fell in love with in 1997 when he was doing his national service at the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi, Lagos.
She explained that she was attracted to him by his genial and selfless nature, describing the pediatrician as her strength, confidante, soulmate and a caring father.
Pastor Michael Adelusi of Christ Apostolic Church, Dei-Dei, Abuja, said the deceased once led a five-man medical mission to his church where they attended to members of the congregation with medical problems.
“His (Jonathan’s) intervention saved two lives who had very high blood pressure; it is quite painful to hear that he has passed away,” he said.

PUNCH NEWSPAPER