I lost my mother unexpectedly in April, 2001. She was in her early thirties. She left behind her husband and three little boys, the youngest being 7 months old at the time. Back then I did not understand what had happened. And I was too young to ask questions, or to fully understand the answers I would have been given. To me, my mother had gone on a long trip and was going to return after a few months. But she never did. I was in the middle of primary school when I finally realized she wasn’t going to return. And I wept.

For as long as I can remember, the subject of death has always fascinated me. Growing up in a Christian home and attending a church that was heavy on holiness made me understand what happened after people died—the good guys would go to heaven, while the bad guys would go to hell. But why they died when they died still fascinated me. Why this year and not the previous? Or today and not tomorrow? I was interested in knowing who controlled death.

I lost my mother unexpectedly in April, 2001. She was in her early thirties. She left behind her husband and three little boys, the youngest being 7 months old at the time. Back then I did not understand what had happened. And I was too young to ask questions, or to fully understand the answers I would have been given. To me, my mother had gone on a long trip and was going to return after a few months. But she never did. I was in the middle of primary school when I finally realized she wasn’t going to return. And I wept.

At various points while growing up, I felt that losing my mother at such a young age was unfair. I never really knew my mother. I can’t tell you her favorite meal or color. I can’t tell you what her voice sounded like when she sang, or how she laughed when she was in a good mood. As a boy I heard preachers say that every death happened for a reason, but I couldn’t figure out the reason for my mum’s death. I eventually did. I was a teenager when I had the answer: she had died “untimely.” She had been a victim of negative spiritual forces at work.

To the average churchgoer in many Christian circles in Nigeria, untimely death occurs when a person dies before their God-appointed time. It’s when the plan of the devil (or a person’s enemies) prevails over God’s plan. When a person dies young. Or dies just before a major breakthrough. Or immediately after a major breakthrough. Anything short of a ripe, old age is untimely and isn’t God’s plan. It’s a work of Satan.

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