Ebola Updates: Panic In Ado-ekiti Over Monkey

Residents of Federal Housing Estate in Ado Ekiti and its environs have appealed to the state government to assist in taming a rampaging monkey in the area. Report says the monkey, which was domesticated by its owner, escaped and terrorise the people of the area. The fearful animal had caused panic by jumping fences, attacking women and children and seizing fruits from hawkers in the area any time of the day. A resident in the area, Ajayi Abiodun, said it was about two weeks ago when a woman shouted she saw a monkey come out of a nearby bush around her house in the estate, adding, “Given her age, we believed her. Since then, we have been looking for it”. He explained that officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) had visited the area many times when they were alerted but could neither kill nor catch the fearful animal. Abiodun said: “Last Sunday, I invited officials of the Civil Defence Corps when I saw it on a tree. But before it could be shot, it dived into a compound and vanished. It comes and goes anytime and anyhow. Residents in the area especially around Plot Four have been seeing it. But no one has been able to arrest it”. Appealing to the state government to support the NSCDC, Abiodun noted: “We wish government would come to our rescue. Last week, it attacked about two people around Covenant Academy and Housing Estate on Afao Road here”. His words: “The monkey is real. There is no one in this area who can say he has not seen it. Children cannot play freely again and, women, especially ladies are being harassed by the monkey. This is a period of Ebola. Government should help us”. Confirming the incidence, the Public Relations Officer of the Corps in the state, Tolulope Afolabi, maintained the Corps had made several attempts at killing the monkey to no avail. Said Afolabi: “The species is different from the common small ones. It is big enough to cause anyone fears. It has been seen beside Covenant Academy and Upperland areas.”