Nigeria's anti-corruption boss says he can't stop linking coronavirus to corruption.

The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, insists that the hemorrhagic coronavirus disease currently ravaging the world, is caused by corruption.

The virus has killed more than 2,760 people globally; 2,715 of whom are in mainland China. 

As the medical community grapples with the cause and cure for the viral disease, Nigeria’s anti--graft czar--who was bashed last week for linking coronavirus to corruption--has doubled down on his controversial take. 

“Somebody actually created corruption-viruses...I mean...coronavirus. Somebody deliberately sat down in the lab and came up with the creation of coronavirus with a view to infect and destroy other people. So what else is more corrupt than that?," Magu told a parley of academics and stakeholders. 

“So, it’s created by a corrupt mind, so I insist that coronavirus is caused by corruption.”

Magu's press team did attack the media for reporting the EFCC boss' initial remarks, protesting that he had been quoted out of context.

"The Commission is appalled by the fact that a section of the traditional and the New Media has been obsessed with a campaign to impugn and irritate the Commission's boss," Tony Orilade, Acting Head of Media and Publicity in the EFCC, wrote in a statement issued on February 23.

The coronavirus spread

According to China’s National Health Commission, 406 confirmed coronavirus cases were identified on Tuesday, February 25.

The total number of people infected by the virus in mainland China currently stands at 78,064, bringing the global total to 80,970.

Sporting events have been rescheduled because of the virus and there are fears that the Olympics, scheduled to kickoff in Tokyo, Japan on July 24, 2020, could suffer an outright cancellation due to the coronavirus.