A Nigerian professor, Cyril Otoikhian, has challenged the Nigerian government and other scientists working on COVID-19 to prove the existence of the virus in the country.
The professor of genetics at the Novena University, Delta State, in a programme last week on Channels TV, shocked his interviewers when he argued that the virus does not exist as there has been no known evidence to prove its existence.
Mr Otoikhian claimed there was secrecy surrounding the diagnosis of the disease in the country. He said that suggested that the disease does not exist.
He claimed the controversy in Cross River State, where the government claimed for a prolonged period that there were no COVID-19 cases within its territory, was expected as the federal government has not been open in its handling of the pandemic.
There have been lots of unscientific claims about the existence of COVID-19 in Nigeria and elsewhere.
The lecturer remained unconvinced that the COVID-19 exists despite the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirming it as the infectious disease ravaging the world.
The virus and the disease it caused were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.
COVID-19 is now a pandemic, affecting many countries around the world. The disease has infected close to 12 million people and killed 541, 086 of them.
Despite the increasing figures of confirmed cases and deaths related to the disease, the professor of genetics claimed the virus is not real.
“Why can’t they bring whatever they are doing indoors, outside? Mr Otoikhian said. “You say that it is real, then show it to use that it is real. If you bring it outside, then we set a flat table and all the scientists are there, the reagents and the camera is before everybody.
“Then let’s see what COVID-19 is, whether it exists. I have asked severally, let them bring somebody that is positive to COVID-19 and someone that died from COVID-19, carry out an autopsy on the dead body, show me exactly what you are calling COVID-19 inside the body or the positive person of COVID-19.”
He said “the developed world (is) already owning up to the truth about COVID-19.” He did not elaborate on who and who has owned up on the non-existence of COVID-19.
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