A couple in Canada who had lost their lottery ticket worth $50 million had it returned to them by a church parish member. Hakeem and Abiola Nosiru couldn’t believe their luck when they realised they’d won the lottery jack pot but their joy was to be short lived.

Abiola  held onto the ticket for safe keeping and the next day after church she discovered the ticket was missing.“When I realized I lost the ticket, I was frantic.” Ms. Nosiru said. “My grandchildren were playing with my purse while we were all at church…. it must have somehow slipped out!”

“I couldn’t sleep for days, I couldn’t eat. I was devastated,” Abiola said but her husband had a more philosophical view. She said “He wasn’t mad, he said, it was in God’s hands. God gave us the money. We lose the ticket and eventually we found it. Thank God for that.”

However the couple went through months of uncertainty before the ticket was found. During this time they attempted to claim the prize from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation by filling out forms and showing proof of purchase and a police investigation took place.

Then nearly three months after it went missing on April 1st, they received a call from a member of their parish saying they had found their ticket. The police were able to grant ownership to Nosiru and they established that no criminality had been involved. Yesterday the couple were finally able to receive their long awaited cheque.“We are relieved, we are very excited, we are very happy,” Abiola said. “We’re going to relax with our (four) children and our (five) grandchildren