Scores of bush meat sellers on Monday trooped to Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s office at the Oyo State Secretariat, Ibadan, complaining of low patronage which they attributed to the outbreak of the Ebola disease.
The women under the aegis of Bushmeat Sellers Association were of the complaint that since the announcement that the deadly disease could be caused by consumption of bush meat, spell had been cast on their sales.
Alhaja Risikat Odeyemi, Iyalode, who spoke on behalf of Bushmeat Sellers Association, Oyo State, expressed dismay that bush meat which had hitherto been taken as a special delicacy is now been seen as a poison.
According to her, “our meat 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 just start trying to be so unfair”.
They pointed out that 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, adding that, “we normally stand by the roadside to invite prospective buyers. But now when we call them to buy bush meat, they always reply us saying, “Ebola”. It is the same meat we have been eating and nothing has happened to us.”
She gave the reason for their visit to the governor’s office as being to appeal to him to help them dispel the rumour that bush meat causes Ebola.
The Governor was yet tot attended to them as at press time.
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