My wife woke up after six months in coma, Akpabio

Unoma Akpabio, the wife of Nigeria’s Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, spent six months in a coma at a German hospital before she recovered with the help of an Italian Catholic priest, Pio Pietrelcina, known as Padre Pio.

Mr Akpabio shared this news in a statement from his media aide, Jackson Udom, on Sunday. He said his wife had a surgery that did not go well and was declared 98 percent dead. While she was in a coma, he prayed to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and to Padre Pio for healing.

The statement was meant to announce the Senate president’s visit to Padre Pio's prayer ground in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. He went there to pray for a peaceful election in 2027 and to ask for an end to banditry and terrorism in Nigeria.

Mr Akpabio explained that during his wife’s coma, he used a photo of Padre Pio to make the sign of the cross on her. He prayed for a miracle instead of losing hope.

He said his wife woke up after the prayer and that the doctors at the hospital were confused about how she recovered from a coma that nearly took her life.

Mr Akpabio did not mention when this happened or what illness his wife had. “Miraculously, she woke up. That hospital, to this day, has yet to understand what happened. As someone who has experienced the powers in where I am standing, I can understand it more than anyone else,” he said.

He also noted that after Mrs Akpabio left the hospital, it took her three months to remember him and their children. “This is my 10th time here. When my wife was finally discharged from the hospital, she waited for three months before she could remember my name and those of the children. We are here today to give thanks to God and to thank Pio for always interceding for us,” he said.

Mr Akpabio said their experience led them to honor Padre Pio by naming their son after him during his baptism.

He also mentioned that they set up a football academy in the priest’s honor to train and give scholarships to underprivileged kids. “We honoured Pio by giving our son the baptismal name, Pio. We also established a large academy, which we called the Pio Football Academy, where we train and offer scholarships to children from low-income families, from age 9 up to the university level, all in memory of Pio. May his soul rest in perfect peace,” he stated.

Talking about his visit to the prayer ground, Mr Akpabio told St Padre Pio TV/Radio in Italy that his group came to seek help for Nigeria’s security problems. “We are all from Nigeria. We came to offer prayers and get blessings from God for ourselves, families, and our dear country that is currently being ravaged by banditry and terrorism.

“We are here on this prayer ground, and we are going home fulfilled, that we were able to touch this Holy ground, drop our intentions which he will take to God on our behalf,” he said.

Mr Akpabio praised the maintenance of the prayer site, calling it a holy ground. “I am very impressed that the place has been well kept. This is a holy ground. Some people who are here might not even understand the significance of this ground, but those of us who are adherents and followers of Pio believe in his intercessions,” he said.