Over the last 48 hours, Melinda Gates, wife of billionaire businessman, Bill Gates, has been under severe criticisms over a comment she reportedly made about ‘seeing dead bodies all over Africa’ in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
POLITICS NIGERIA, in its drive, to fight against ‘Fake News’, decided to investigate and find out if she actually made that statement.
CLAIM: Former aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode quoted Melinda Gates to have said she “sees dead bodies all over Africa”.
On Monday, Fani-Kayode wrote on Twitter;
“I see dead bodies all over Africa”- Melinda Gates. Horrendous vision from a horrendous lady with a horrendous husband. We reject it and return it to sender! The agenda of satan for Africa shall not stand. Those that have dug a pit for us shall fall into that pit themselves”.
"I see dead bodies all over Africa"- Melinda Gates.
Horrendous vision from a horrendous lady with a horrendous husband. We reject it and return it to sender! The agenda of satan for Africa shall not stand. Those that have dug a pit for us shall fall into that pit themselves.
— Femi Fani-Kayode (@realFFK) April 12, 2020
Genesis
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
COVID-19 however, is a new strain of coronavirus that has not been previously identified in humans until 2019.
As at the time of this report, Nigeria has 323 confirmed cases. While 85 persons had recovered, 10 persons have been confirmed dead. There are 1,870,076 confirmed cases worldwide. While 441,323 already recovered, the world has recorded 116,052 deaths.
To narrow the report to Africa, the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said there are now 13,814 confirmed cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in 52 countries across Africa. The centre on Sunday said the disease has killed 747 people while a total of 2,355 patients have recovered from the deadly disease across the continent.
South Africa has the highest country in Africa with 2,028 cases and 25 deaths, followed by Egypt with 1,939 and 146 deaths, and Algeria with 1,825 cases and 275 deaths.
Bill and Melinda Gates’ Intervention
The duo on February 5, pledged to donate $100 million through their foundation to treat Coronavirus. They said the money will be used to support treatment efforts across the globe, build infrastructure to treat patients in Africa and Southern Asia, and fund the development of a vaccine.
Before then, they reportedly donated $10 million to fight the menace and they continue to warn the world against the pandemic.
The foundation suggested that World Health Organisation (WHO) should send highly trained healthcare workers to low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Southern Asia, establishing an international database on information on the outbreak, and funding vaccine manufacturing facilities.
Verification of Fani-Kayode’s claim
This newspaper carried out an independent check on the claim attributed to Mrs Gates’ by FFK.
It was gathered that Mrs. gates said the following in a recent interview with CNN where she spoke about Coronavirus pandemic, she said:
“It’s going to be horrible in the developing world. Part of the reasons you are seeing the case numbers still do not look very bad is because they don’t have access to many tests.”
“Look at what is happening in Ecuador, they are putting bodies out on the streets, you are going to see that in countries in Africa,” she said.
She disclosed that when she “saw what China had to do to isolate an enormous part of its population. My first thought was Africa. How in the world are they going to deal with this.”
“I have been in townships all over Africa and slums. When we talk about physical distancing and hand-washing. If you live in slums who can’t physically distance, you have to go out and get your meals. You don’t have clean water to wash your hands”.
I listened to that interview and Melinda Gates was implying that if necessary measures are not put in place to prevent the Covid-19 outbreak in Africa, then we will be done for it. pic.twitter.com/subTDIThCx
— Unbothered (@daddykool1502) April 13, 2020
Verdict
By simple interpretation, POLITICS NIGERIA can report that Mrs Gates never said she saw dead bodies all over Africa. Rather, she’s urging the world to act fast to save developing countries like Africa from disaster.
Mr Fani-Kayode stripped the Mrs Gates’ comment of its context. The former minister and PDP chieftain is layering his presumed refutation of Melinda Gates’ argument on a “spiritual” principle which is an exaggeration of the philantropist’s comments.
But she doth say, “ look at whats happening in Ecuador, they’re putting bodies out in the street….You ARE going to see that in countries in Africa..”
Whatever that means .