Corpse Found On The Street Of Plateu Causes EBOLA Panic

PANIC and CONFUSSION broke out, on Friday, in Pankshin Local Government Area of Plateau State following the discovery of a corpse of a young man believed to have been killed by the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the deceased, Mr Gokum Bala, was rumoured to have died on Thursday night of Ebola on his way to his village.

Bala was identified as an indigene of Wase Local Government Area of the state, but lived in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

A source told NAN on the condition of anonymity that the deceased, who was alleged to have arrived in Pankshin late in the night of Thursday from Port Harcourt, was on his way to his home in Wase town.
The source said that Bala arrived in Pankshin looking very sick and there was no vehicle to take him to Wase.

According to the source, the deceased then decided to pass the night under the shed of a shop after he was permitted by some security guards.

The source added that Bala died in his sleep as his corpse was discovered by the guards.

“Unfortunately, when people heard of where he was coming from, there was fear that he might be a victim of Ebola disease and nobody wanted to go close to the corpse.

“We had to call the police at the Pankshin zonal headquarters to come. It was while that was going on that a relation of the deceased appeared,” said the source.

Confirming the report, the Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO) in the state, Emmanuel Abu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), dismissed the claim of Ebola as the possible cause of Bala’s death.

“The young man died of a disease suspected to be rheumatism and not Ebola.
“After all, his elder brother and family showed up and confirmed to us that Bala had been suffering from rheumatism on one of his legs and that each time it is severe, he rushed home for treatment,” Abu said.

The police spokesman also said: “The elder brother to the deceased, Mr Alama Bala, showed up while we were trying to see what to do with the corpse.

“When we are convinced of the relationship and the explanation given to us about the health record of Bala, we had no option but to release the corpse to the family for burial.”


(NAN)

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