One of the 30 Nigerian soldiers who contracted HIV while serving in ECOMOG and were sent to Jeremiah Abalaka for treatment in 1999-2000 has disputed the claim of cure by the physician.

An angry Mohammed Farouk described Mr Abalaka as “a blatant liar and murderer, saying he alone survived the treatment out of the 30 soldiers.

Mr Abalaka has continued to stoke controversy over two decades after he first made the claim.

Mr Farouk,  in a video published online, claimed that Mr Abalaka used him and his colleagues for an experiment, thereby killing 29 of them and infecting him with Hepatitis B virus.

Mr Farouk’s revelation is in response to a new video of Mr Abalaka accusing the United States of exploiting Nigeria and the people living with the virus by selling toxic drugs for the treatment of the disease and at a very exorbitant price.

Mr Abalaka said the Western world is not interested in a cure for HIV but only seeks a ready market for its drugs that “do not provide cure but damage the patient’s organ because of adverse side effects.”

The claim by Mr Abalaka, a surgeon turned immunologist, that he has a cure for HIV started in 1999.

In 2015, he said he would only release his vaccine recipe to the Nigerian government under a negotiated agreement.

Abalaka’s latest claims

In the new video shared on WhatsApp and YouTube, Mr Abalaka said: “They are deceivers, they are not interested in cure for HIV because of their anti-retroviral drug, toxic drug that you must take under prescription by doctors, and once they put you on it, you must take it for life.

“The average cost of treatment for a year is $20,000, which must be taken for a year. $20,000 dollar is N7.2 million treatment every year; that is what is got from the Nigerian government from any person put on anti-retroviral drug.

“For a few kobos, literally, you can get cured with my treatment.

“To make matters worse, a few years back, a young man went to Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital, now called University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, to donate blood for his friend who was sick. When he was screened they found out he has Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and then educated him that there is no cure.

“They told him, ‘you must be very careful; you cannot give your blood to anyone and be careful of how you have sex. You must have condom.’

“The young man with the mother came to me crying. The mother was aware I have this vaccine. I said, ‘why are you crying, forget about them, just sign the consent form and I will treat your son; but before I do it, I will take your blood and send it to the same hospital for confirmation.’

“I took the sample there, confirmed and started treatment every day. After the first week, I reduced it. Then five weeks later, another blood test was conducted and I discovered no more anti-body against HCV. The young man left here jubilating and telling people along the road why he was jubilating. All these are made available to the government but the present government ignored it.

“Some months back too, a foreigner came to me for treatment for both HIV and HCV. I started treating him. This foreigner was diagnosed from his country, submitted all his results to me. Within one week of treatment his HCV had gone, no more HCV in his blood. He was on antiretroviral drug, I asked him to stop it to see if the virus will bounce back, after eleven days of stopping the drug, no HIV showed in his blood. The young man had to travel back but I wish he had to stay back for some years to clear his anti-bodies.

“Ladies and gentlemen, all these were made available to the government. All people of goodwill who know me approached the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government of 16 years, still nothing. Now they have approached All Progressives Congress (APC) government, I am sorry to say, they are the same Nigerians, not interested in any scientific discovery.

“All they think is that Dr Abalaka is a masquerade maker who is using witchcraft. I am using scientific thinking and reasoning approach.

“I must express my gratitude to all those who have been struggling with me but I am ashamed of the Nigerian government at all levels and tiers. When my work was published, I spent tens of thousands of naira, made copies and sent to the judiciary and the legislature at the state, local government and federal levels, the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) and commissioners of health but none of them has done anything.

“The last National Assembly under a medical doctor called Bukola Saraki, who claimed to be a doctor, he knows about this vaccines but for four years he was not interested. All he is interested in is how to make money, that is what all of them are doing.

“They are making stupendous amounts of money from foreign grants, whereas the money they would have got from supporting a research with a useful output would have been mine. It could have earned Nigeria billions of dollars every month because my treatment is effective against three dreaded and dreadful viruses. My treatment prevents and cures HIV, hepatitis C virus and hepatitis V virus but the Nigeria government is not interested.

“The people who elected them, it is now up to you people to join me and put pressure on them about the stupidity, cruelty shown to Nigerians who elected them,” he said

Farouk’s reaction

But Mr Farouk said the experiences of the late soldiers and his own disputed Mr Abalaka’s claim of a cure.

“I am one of the soldiers that were sent to Dr Abalaka back in 1999/2000 when he came out vehemently claiming that he had a cure for HIV.

“This video is to bring to your attention that Dr Abalaka is a blatant liar and a murderer. He has murdered 29 of my colleagues who went under treatment.

“Of the 30 soldiers he purportedly cured, I am the only surviving person. Apart from having HIV, Abalaka added to my baggage by adding Hepatitis B Virus to the HIV I already have.

“I am making this video to bring to the attention of Nigerians. Please, the federal government of Nigeria has tried and is trying because they have placed so many people on life-saving medications. People are getting healthy and no longer dying.

“Please do not be deceived by this so-called cure claimants. They are so many of them out there,” he said.