The Senior Pastor, Daystar Christian Centre, Pastor Sam Adeyemi, has urged other Christian leaders to research the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic before making comments on the coronavirus pandemic.
He said that this research, especially on how the previous pandemic affected Nigeria, would save the leaders from baseless conspiracy theories being peddled about the present pandemic.
The respected cleric stated these in an Instagram live chat with the Senior Pastor of Covenant Christian Centre, Pastor Poju Oyemade.
A snippet of the chat is currently trending on social media.
Sam Adeyemi said, “I went online, (asking) wasn’t there a pandemic 100 years ago?
“Let me go and study it, because the interpretation that people are giving to this (coronavirus) pandemic range from one extreme to the other. I don’t even one to go into details.
“There is quarrelling on social media – from 5G to 10G and other things.
“I went online and decided to check: How did it (1918 pandemic) affect Nigeria?
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“I found a beautiful research article from a history lecturer who is now at a university in Birnin Kebbi and I had to buy it.
“I was happy buying it because when I read it, it was amazing. It dug into the British archives of the records that the colonial officers kept. So, I read.
“When the thing hit in September 1918, the way air travel is the main thing of global transportation and it was air travel that moved the coronavirus around, it was sea travel that spread the influenza around then.
“The ships that brought sick people into the Lagos ports, I got the names, the dates they arrived, how the thing spread in Nigeria.
“I will tell you the one I saw and I almost screamed: they closed churches, mosques, schools and markets! That was 1918.
“Some of us now think that it is the anti-Christ that is at work, that does not want us to gather together to fellowship.
“We should just be thanking God that we have internet.
“So, when the leader gets perspective like that, then you can calm people down and tell them there will be life after this thing.”
Watch video:
Pastor Sam Adeyemi killing ignorance and powerpoints and misinformation in just over 2 minutes with a simple internet search and reading about a previous pandemic. If only people did their own research before jumping on conspiracy theories… 💭 pic.twitter.com/9Aq88IlaeX
— ✨👑 DaddyMO👑✨ (@therealdaddymo1) April 8, 2020
UK-based Nigerian doctor, Olufunmilayo Harvey wrote, “The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most severe pandemic in recent history. It was caused by an H1N1 virus.
“It is estimated that about 500 million people or one-third of the world’s population became infected with this virus. About 50 million people died worldwide.”
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