There
was confusion on Bankole Street, Isheri-Oke, Lagos on Friday morning
when residents woke up to the sight of a woman hanging on a tree.
The woman, popularly called Kate in the area, was found dead in a black sweater and orange skirt under a pear tree.
Our correspondent, who also visited the scene, gathered from the residents that the woman did not live on the street.
Residents
who spoke to our correspondent also said that the woman was a Liberian
who worked in a sachet water factory before she died.
While
they said that the woman had been sickly for some time, the residents
said she did not appear to have any problem with anyone in the
community.
But
after the outbreak of the Ebola disease that was brought to Nigeria by a
Liberian diplomat, Patrick Sawyer, some of the people in the area opted
not to have anything to do with her.
One
of the residents who pleaded anonymity said, “We see her in this
neighbourhood every day. She always looked sick but people stopped
selling to her after the Ebola outbreak. It could be because she was
Liberian and looked sickly. This might have frustrated her.”
Another
resident who spoke to our correspondent after his request for anonymity
was granted said, “She attended a church in the area and her church
members still saw her yesterday. I used to see her every day in the
dress she died in. She was sick and people in this area had avoided her,
especially after the Ebola outbreak.”
The
PUNCH gathered from some landlords, who are members of the Isheri Oke
Community Development Association, that the incident had been reported
to the Isheri Police Division.
Efforts
to reach the Baale (head) of the area, Chief Albert Bankole, for
comments proved abortive as he declined to speak to The PUNCH on the
issue.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, could not be reached for comments.
Meanwhile, when our correspondent left the area around 11am, the woman’s body was still hanging on the pear tree.
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