…Monkey, owner at large-Police
By Angela Nwaeze Mbaocha
A youth corps member deployed to Ebonyi was reportedly attacked by a monkey at Nibo junction Abakaliki, Ebonyi state capital.
The incident happened on August 21, 2019 at about 5pm, while the youth corps member who was attached to the state ministry of Power, Abakaliki, Esuonye Humphrey, was passing the junction in the company of other corps members.
The victim reported the incident to the police at about 6pm of the same day.
Humphrey reported that he was going his way when a monkey belonging to one Okafor Chijioke, a lorry driver attacked and bit him on his left arm and he was rushed to Alex Ekwueme Federal Teaching Hospital for treatment.
But fortunately for him, on getting there, the medical doctors on duty confirmed it was the monkey’s hand that it used not the teeth and he was treated and discharged.
Police public relations officer, DSP Loveth Odah, confirmed the report.
She said on arrival of police detectives to the scene, the monkey was nowhere to be found, while the lorry driver was arrested by the police.
But he revealed that he wasn’t the owner of the monkey, that some children came to sell the monkey to him, but he told them to go and get monkey food, and as they left, the youth corper and his friends were passing then the monkey attacked them.
“Effort is on to track the owners of the monkey and the monkey as they are at large. This is serious issue, we recently had the outbreak of yellow fever here in Ebonyi and according medical experts it’s being transmitted from monkey to mosquitoes then to humans. So imagine when someone is injured by a monkey and assuming the said monkey is already carrying the virus. Then what of the issue of Ebola, so we need to be very careful and the police are not taking this issue lightly. We will get to those children and the monkey” she maintained
