Bill Gates accused of bribing officials on coronavirus vaccination

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Bill Gates made headlines for controversial statements about digital immunity certificates with coronavirus vaccinations. However, allegations made in Africa, if true, could suggest he may go to great lengths to push vaccinations on people who might not want them.

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Bill Gates on Nigerian vaccination bill

Nigerian news outlets like The Eagle Online are reporting on allegations that Bill Gates may have bribed lawmakers in the House of Representatives to get a vaccination bill passed quickly. The Coalition of United Political Party alleged that Gates offered some Nigerian representatives $10 million to get the vaccination bill pushed through without traditional legislative proceedings.

CUPP spokesman Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere called on House Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila to be impeached if the vaccination bill is forced on members of the House. The organization said it intercepted "very credible intelligence" of plans to "forcefully and without adherence to the rules of lawmaking to pass the Control of Infectious Diseases Bill 2020 otherwise known as the Compulsory Vaccination Bill."

The law would require all Nigerians to be vaccinated "even when the vaccines have not been discovered." It's a reference to the coronavirus vaccine, which remains in development.

Was there actually a bribe or is it fake news?

The intelligence allegedly reveals that "sources outside the country but very interested in the Bill" paid $10 million to lawmakers to ensure that the bill passes smoothly. The Eagle Online and other Nigerian news outlets identify the possible source of that alleged payment as billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates.

PremiumTimesNG reports that the Nigerian House of Representatives set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the allegations or bribery. Lawmakers set up the committee and adopted a motion of "personal explanation by Deputy Speaker Ahmed Wase.

The CUPP did not provide any evidence proving the alleged bribe by Bill Gates over the vaccination bill. Wase said he did not accept money to pass the bill, and he wasn't aware that any representatives had taken money from anyone in exchange for passing the bill quickly.

Gates said he warned Trump

Gates has been talking about vaccination and the fight against the coronavirus since before the pandemic started. He told The Wall Street Journal on Monday that he warned President Trump about the possibility of a global pandemic in 2016 before he took office. He said he met with Trump and other candidates in 2016 to advise them to make preparedness for a pandemic one of their top priorities for the country.

Several videos of Gates warning about the dangers of a pandemic have received new attention since the outbreak began. He has said that outbreaks of infectious diseases are a bigger threat than the possibility of nuclear war. He told The Journal recently that he wishes he had "done more to call attention to the danger" when he spoke with Trump and the other elected officials.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into relief efforts for COVID-19.