With the advent of Ebola, residents of the Federal Housing Estate, Oke-Ila, Ado-Ekiti, are scared over the sudden appearance of a mysterious monkey in the area.
The monkey, described by residents as having a light brown skin, was said to have escaped from the home of its master, also a resident in the area, two weeks ago and began to terrorise everyone in the area.
With panic written on their faces, the residents said the animal was jumping fences, attacking women and children and seizing fruits from hawkers in the area.
Abiodun Ajayi, a resident, said “It was about two weeks ago that a woman raised the alarm that she saw a monkey, coming out of a nearby bush around her house in the estate and because she isn’t a young woman, we believed her. Since then, we have been looking for the monkey.”
Ajayi said they have called the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), who were not able to kill or catch the monkey.
He said: “Last Sunday, I invited officials of the Civil Defence Corps when I saw the monkey on a tree. But before it could be shot, it dived into a compound and vanished. It comes and goes any time and anyhow.”
Some other residents called on the state government to assist the NSCDC to capture the rampaging monkey.
“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.”
“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 are being harassed by the monkey. This is the period of Ebola. Government should please help us.”
Meanwhile, Tolulope Afolabi, the spokesperson for the NCSDC in the state, confirmed the development, adding that personnel of the Corps had made several attempts to kill the monkey to no avail.
“The species is different from the common small ones. It is big enough to cause anyone fear. It has been seen beside Covenant Academy and Upper land areas.” “When we got there after we had been told, we saw it but could not shoot. And then we left after we had given out our numbers. Then they called us again. But we still could not kill shoot it like that. We had to be careful.