For the umpteenth time, former Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu has restated his claims of having a cure for the dreaded novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) just as he has criticized the World Health Organisation (WHO) for being slow in recognising the efficacy of local herbs.
Speaking this Monday on ‘Kakaaki’, a morning show on the African Independent Television (AIT) monitored by Prompt News in Abuja, Prof. Iwu who is currently the Chairman of Imo State Covid-19 Taskforce argued that he has cure for the deadly Covid-19 virus and asked the Federal Government to find a way to look inwards for the treatment of Covid-19 patients with home-grown medications.
He insisted that he has developed herbal medicines including the IHP Detox Tea and Immunovit IHP which he claims have been found to have been used to treat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) which he said is related to Covid-19.
The Professor of Pharmacognosy argued that the IHP Detox Tea for example, is very safe and will like the Federal Government to subject his drugs to clinical trials, adding that he has since contacted both the Federal Ministry of Health and Science & Technology but nothing has come out of it.
On the steps he has taken to get his drugs recognised by the relevant federal and international agencies especially the Federal Ministry of Health; Science and Technology; NAFDAC and Word Health Organisation (WHO), Prof. Iwu first took a swipe at the WHO by calling it “a political organization of medical experts”.
Said he, “I am a scientist developing a workable solutions to our health problems but some people will not hear of it and will be criticising. But science says if you do not have a contrary solution to counter what has been proved you just shut up”.
He further disclosed that, “I have since February informed Federal Ministry of Health and Science & Technology ministers that we have screened three (3) compounds against Covid-19. What we wanted to do is test it against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) which is actually the relation of Covid-19 we are now dealing with.
“At that time we are lucky three compounds from Nigerian plants were found active and what we wanted to do at time was to test it specifically against Covid-19 and that was what we told the minister at the time but luckily for us the three plants, two of them, the source plants two of them were already in the products that were registered by NAFDAC.
“And all we are asking as at that time to have as a preventive measure was that let the products be developed fast so that we will be able to have it to save lives.
“We are not kind of guessing, because by the time we tested it in 2015 it was (for) SARS Coronavirus and the plants we are dealing with are very very active anti-viral. Regardless of all the physical measures we take if you do not deploy anti-viral agents, the replication of the viral will continue for awhile and the wave that continues, the W-shaped curve that will seems as if it is going and it comes back. Almost like what happened in Flu Epidemic, sometimes it will seems its going away and then it will come back again”, Prof. Iwu said.
The Scientist also said that no fewer than 7,145 patients were treated by the source plants by the Chinese in 2015 SARS epidemic and it is in the published reports.
Prof.Iwu posited as a matter of facts that, “no drug in the world can cure flu, what the drug does is to stop the replication of the virus then the body takes over the healing”.
Meanwhile, Prof. Iwu has commended the government of Madagascar that has adopted the herbal tea #Covidirganics developed by DR. Congo-born medical doctor, Jerome Munyangi and which has been approved for use by Madagascans by their President, Malgache Andry Rajoelina.
He said this is the way to go by African countries instead of waiting for the Western world to develop vaccines for use by Africans.
