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No coronavirus in Nigeria? Pastor’s claim false

“Special prayer sessions are being held these days for coronavirus. I want to tell us that that thing is not in Nigeria,” Nigerian pastor Kingsley Innocent says in a video posted on his YouTube channel on 15 March 2020.

Innocent – also known as “Talknado” – is the “general overseer” of Bible Believing Mission in Aba, southeast Nigeria. He was apparently speaking to hundreds of cheering people at his church when the video was filmed. 

He continues: “Say Talknado said so. It’s not in Nigeria. That thing cannot survive in Nigeria. What do mean by coronavirus when there are corrosive anointing. I don’t know about other places, there is no coronavirus here. Coronavirus does not exist in Nigeria.”

The video has since been shared several times on Facebook – with many users laughing at or dismissing his claim. 

But is the pastor correct?



Covid-19 confirmed in Nigeria in February


The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control reported the country’s first case of coronavirus on 27 February – more than two weeks before Innocent’s video was posted on YouTube. A second case was confirmed on 9 March.

The country now has more than 130 cases of Covid-19, with two deaths.

According to reports, president Muhammadu Buhari’s chief of staff, Abba Kyari, and a son of former vice-president Atiku Abubakar are among those infected by the virus. Other high-profile Nigerians have also tested positive for Covid-19. – Allwell Okpi




 

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