Many readers, including medical doctors and professors of medicine and pharmacology, have reacted to my columns of the last two week s on t...
Many readers, including medical doctors
and professors of medicine and pharmacology, have reacted to my columns of the last two weeks on the fraudulent claims of Professors Adebukola Ositelu and Maurice Iwu who said they have
found herbal cures for Ebola. What follows is a sample of the reactions. Enjoy.
Gosh,
this is alarming. She actually looks and sounds like an imbecile. It would be hilarious if it weren't about
something so serious. This is exactly one of Africa's biggest problems -- the
presence of a glut of opinionated ignoramuses who are only too willing to give
their asinine advice to a superstitious public.
We
have these highly-schooled idiots, who never enjoyed the benefit of real solid
education, spreading their rash of misinformation on a whim. For all we know,
this god-influenced professor could either be revealing the details of a dream
she had, products of her warped imagination or something from a hallucinatory
episode. Instead of confining such glaring idiocy to herself -- knowing that it
is too foolish to be shared--she rushes to the press to talk some careless
mumbo jumbo.
This
ignorance and the unflinching belief in the supernatural is a growing concern
in Africa, even in the 21st century, when information is readily available at
the click of a button everywhere. But still, we have the likes of these
capricious professional mischief-makers like Professor Maurice Iwu, and now
this one, joining the ranks of stark illiterates like that tribal faith healing
charlatan in Sierra Leone who carried her affliction from the bushes in Sokoma
in Guinea, with astonishing claims that she could cure the disease. And people
believed her, dying in droves and paying for their stupidity!! Even as I write
today, Africans with long academic titles appended to their names are abusing
the privilege of their connections to the internet with jaw-dropping claims
about cures and conspiracy theories. This is incredibly rank from the lot of
literate illiterate nincompoops. Thanks for another great write up.
Samira Edi, London
Vintage
Professor Farooq Kperogi! I can't but agree with every line of his argument in
his latest trending essay. It is unfortunate that a medical doctor at the rank
of a professor can make such a weighty claim that Ewudu can cure Ebola without
a single shred of evidence.
NMA
and MDCN must urgently do something to stop further peddling of this kind of malignant
ignorance designed to deceive the gullible mind.
When
did we start having this Babalawo belief creeping in to 21st century medicine
in Nigeria? I thought we've learned something from Abalaka's debacle on false
claim for cure of HIV/AIDS!
Anyway,
it is tragic that the motive of this spiritual cure may be dictated by the way
the Nigerian Minister of Health (professor of orthopedic surgery) nearly
committed millions of dollars of tax payers to procure a herbal preparation
called Nanosilva from some American scammers as a cure for Ebola. It took the
disclaimer by FDA to alert Nigerians of what the FG was trying to do. Why won't
someone come up with Ewedu angle too? Fraud is half Nigerian.
Dr. Ibrahim Musa
Nigerians
love cheap publicity and are titlemaniacs. And the most dangerous ones are
those who bring religious sentiments into issues when what we need are hard
facts. A colleague of mine who is a
psychiatrist told me that many religious leaders in Nigeria have psychiatric
illnesses and that is why they claim revelations, prophecies, visions, etc. And
with orthodox treatments by competent psychiatrists such hallucinations
disappear.
You
would expect that learned people would be more circumspect about their
utterances since people look up to them; especially where religion is
concerned. After all, we all have our
individual religious convictions, but we don't have to force it down other
people’s throats just because we can command an audience.
Dr Amina A. AbdulRahman
It’s
a huge relief reading that NAFDAC was alerted about this witchdoctor. I think I
will dig out to find how she became a Professor in the first place. It may shed
more light on her present shameless show of ineptitude.
Muhsin Ibrahim
I
read your piece and found it very interesting and revealing, as usual. However,
I wish to point out that "Ewedu" is known in Hausa as
"Ayayau", and not "Rama", as you described in your
write-up. And potash is called, "Kanwa", in Hausa, and not,
"Kaun", at least the Hausa spoken in Katsina, Sokoto and Kano. I'm
not sure of other places.
Ahmed Abdulkadir
Dr
Kperogi, you are truly a professor of journalism. These professors of medical
and pharmaceutical sciences know the ethics of scientific publishing, but
prefer the ephemeral fame and lime light than sticking to norms of scientific
empericism and documentation. Unfortunately our professional associations and
regulatory agencies do not sanction such unscientific conducts. I hope they
will be shamed by this piece. Thank you.
Prof. Jacob Kwaga
Reminds
me of Dr Abalaka of Gwagwalada who not only claimed a cure for AIDS in those
days, he administered the 'cure' in his clinic for a considerable length of
time. And there is also Gambia's buffoon-in-chief Yahya Jammeh who can cure
AIDS, asthma, hypertension and infertility. But at least, these two are not
professors like the ones you wrote about.
Dr. Raji Bello
Sir,
e be like say u wan make 'Nigerian Academia " blacklist you o. Na you
raise issue about number of journals being published internationally by our
'know-it-all' professors, and questioning their productivity. You raised the
lid on the “father of internet,” Phillip Emeagwali, Ndi Okereke Onyiuke, and
other jegudujera professors. You were the one who opined on the consistent
agitation for increased pay by our lecturers despite being the 13th highest
paid in the world, and 'undermining' ASUU struggle. You're now calling our
esteemed Pharmacognosy Professors,' Ebola Profs.' Diaris God ooo. All these
facts you're sharing, do you want us to collapse the educational sector ni?
Kazeem Yusuf
Related Articles:
No comments
Share your thoughts and opinions here. I read and appreciate all comments posted here. But I implore you to be respectful and professional. Trolls will be removed and toxic comments will be deleted.