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| Bushmeat Sellers (Photo credit: Daily Post) |
Scores of bush meat sellers,
yesterday, marched peacefully to Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s office at the Oyo
State Secretariat, Ibadan, complaining of low patronage due to the outbreak of
ebola disease. The women under the aegis of Bushmeat Sellers Association
lamented that since the announcement that the deadly disease could be caused by
eating bush meat, their sales had suffered a lull.
Speaking on behalf of the
association, Alhaja Risikat Odeyemi, Iyalode, Bushmeat Association, Oyo, said
that it was strange that bush meat which had hitherto been taken as a special
delicacy should now be seen as a poison. Her words: “Our meats do not have any
Ebola virus. We don’t know why people should just be peddling rumour that would
be injurious to other people. This is not good at all. They have spoilt our
business without any good reason. What we heard is that the disease was
contacted through the river. Why should they be so unfair?”
They said before the announcement, a
grass cutter was being sold between N2,000 and N4,000 and the same thing goes
for antelope and other animals. But, now they regretted that there are no sales
again. “We normally stand by the roadside to invite prospective buyers. But,
now when we call them to buy bush meats they always reply us saying, “Ebola”.
It is the same meat we have been eating and nothing has happened to us”,
Odeyemi said.
Their visit to the governor’s
office, she added, was to appeal to him to help dispel the rumour that bush
meat causes Ebola. At the time our correspondent left the governor’s
office, the governor was yet to attend to them. Many of the bush meat sellers sat
clumsily at the entrance of the gate because the security men at the gate did
not allow them to move closer to the governor’s office.
Meanwhile
Following the outbreak of Ebola disease, bush meat vendors in Benin, Edo State
have reportedly closed shops.
This came following the speculation that the
deadly virus may be contacted from bush meat.
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