The Adamawa State-born veteran broadcaster and writer, Timawus Mathias, died on Friday, at 73.
A family member, Jiji Mathias, announced the development in a Facebook post on Friday.
Born on 5th December 1948, the 73-year-old deceased broadcaster was in a coma for 5 weeks but miraculously regained consciousness on August 8.
He had broken the news of his recovery on his Facebook page saying, “This has miraculously restored itself and I hope and pray it remains so. I came under the weather and was in a coma for 5 weeks. When I came round I found I had been spun out of this cyclone of social media. I will tell my story in due course. For now help me sing Hallelujah, glory to God.”
It is unclear yet, what type of illness killed the Journalist. He also did not disclose it as he promised in his previous Facebook post, although he had made several other posts after his recovery.
However, a medical practitioner at the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Dr. Solomon Maurice, who had reacted to the recovery of the broadcaster, had said that it is possible for a patient in a coma to come alive after weeks of being unconscious.
He had said, “Yes, it’s possible, but it all depends on the medical condition involved. If there’s a brain injury, especially someone with cerebral Oedema, that is to say involving swelling, such can trigger unconsciousness, but when it subsides, the patient can improve and move into consciousness.
“Sometimes it could be Metabolic. For someone that also has a metabolic coma, for example, a coma resulting from kidney disease, acute liver failure, or any other form of metabolic disease, and has been treated, the patient’s coma improves and regains consciousness too.
“So, it’s possible for someone in a coma for 5 weeks to regain consciousness. It’s very possible, but as I said earlier, it all depends on the medical condition the patient is suffering from.”
Speaking further, he explained how the process works: “Some people may also regain consciousness, but not fully. There’s what we call ‘Subdural Hematoma’ (a collection of blood below the inner layer of the dura, but external to the brain and arachnoid membrane) and Intracranial Bleeding (when blood suddenly bursts into brain tissue, causing damage to the brain).
“For someone suffering from Intracranial bleeding, when there’s bleeding into the brain, it can connect and form into a mass partially solidified in form and form hematoma. It can also compress the brain, and you know, the skull does not expand, so once there’s this connection the functions of the brain can be affected.”
On 17th August 2022, while trying to still stay optimistic, the late broadcaster made another post regarding it on Facebook saying, “I never give up. The last thing I said to myself before I fell into a coma was, ‘I will come out of this. God agreed with me Amen.”
Reacting to his demise, the governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, in his condolence message to the family, eulogized the late Journalist as a patriotic Nigerian who served the country diligently in various capacities.
He wrote, “We will forever cherish Chief Mathias’ oratory and comportment on Television as well as his commitment to the service of our beloved State and Country. His diligence and skills earned him the recognition of the NTA Yola station named after him. He held the traditional title of the official spokesman of the paramount Monarch of the Bachama Kingdom and the most preferred compere at national events.
“On behalf of the Government and good people of Adamawa State, I want to express our heartfelt condolences and beseech God to grant the family, the entire Bachama Kingdom and relatives left behind the fortitude to bear this great irreparable loss.”
“We thank God for having given him to us as a gift. We appreciate his service to the community, especially the role he played while working with the Nigerian Television Authority and his outstanding presentation of what has become the famous Verdict 83 elections coverage.”
Mathias had worked with the Nigerian Television Authority Yola, and after his retirement ventured into private business by starting his own media firm, Quest Media.
He was described as a legend and was long before his death immortalised by the NTA which named its Yola office complex after him.
DAAR Communication’s AIT Yola office is also named after him and many had referred to him as the father of journalism in Adamawa State.
While in service he was once the director in charge of the entire North East operations of the African Independent Television (AIT) in his base Yola.
During his 70th birthday, President Muhamnadu Buhari had also celebrated him.
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