Word’s oldest man dies at 146, his last word will shock you
-Ojo Oluwasegun
An Indonesian man, Mbah Gotho, who is believed to be the world’s oldest person has died at the age of 146.
Mbah Gotho, was said to have documentation that showed he was born in 1870.
He was a lifelong heavy smoker, he was taken to hospital last month for an undisclosed health complaint.
It was gathered that Gotho, discharged himself six days later and ate porridge until he died a few days later. His grandson told the BBC
“Since he came back from the hospital, he only ate spoonfuls of porridge and drank very little,” the relative said.
It was also gathered that doubts have been raised about his claim as the world oldest person as Indonesia did not begin to record new births until 1900.
However, Gotho’s claim to be the world’s oldest human hit the headlines last summer when officials at the local record office in his hometown of Sragen, Central Java, said they had been able to verify his age.
He told reporters at the time that he began preparing for his death in 1992, including having a gravestone made: “What I want is to die.”
He outlived all 10 of his siblings, his four wives and his children.
Mr. Ghoto was buried on Monday morning in a plot he bought several years ago and using the pre-prepared gravestone, his grandson said.
“He didn’t ask much. Before he died, he just wanted us, his family, to let him go,” Suryanto said.
Meanwhile, the oldest person to have lived is 122-year-old French woman Jeanne Louise Calment, who died in a nursing home in 1997, according to the Guinness World Records.
Mr Ghoto’s claim would add 24 years to that record, a fact that is likely to add to speculation that the Indonesian man’s papers are incorrect.
Reports have it that many have claimed to have beat Calment record including a Nigerian James Olofintuyi, who claimed to have made it to 171, and Dhaqabo Ebba from Ethiopia, who claimed to be 163. But their claims were not officially recognised as there are no verifiable documents to show for it.
