Faced with constant invasion of their homes by monkeys, several residents of Soluyi/Sosanya community in Gbagada, Lagos State, have fled the area.
The monkeys allegedly come from a natural habitat close to the community.
The residents said on Monday that they were leaving the community because they could no longer bear the situation.
They however called on the state government to assist them because the monkeys forced their ways into their rooms, destroying window and door nets, food stuffs and any other thing in sight.
The chairman of the Soluyi/Sosanya Landlord Association, Mr. Adigun Olaleye, said that it had become difficult for them to curtail the monkeys and their destructive attitude.
He said that the invasion might have caused by the nearness of the community to a swamp forest which separated the area from Ifako area.
Olaleye said that the monkeys enter into their residences at will, including early morning and gain entrance into rooms even if the houses were locked.
He said that the community had written a letter to the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture on the development, but was yet to receive any relief.
“They said we would have to pay for them to come and pack the monkeys,” Olaleye said, lamenting that that the invasion which had been on for years recently assumed a worrisome dimension.
Olaleye therefore appealed to the state government to urgently intervene in the matter.
A journalist who lives in the community, Mrs. Funmilola Gboteku, said that the monkeys had forced her family to flee.
“Many times, these monkeys come to the neighbourhood to destroy our property. Once they see food items inside a house, they direct all their energies at gaining entrance forcefully.
“The monkeys are in the habit of tearing the protective nets on windows to gain entrance and eat whatever they find in the house,” she said.
Another resident, Mr. Gabriel Omopariwa, said that he was tired of the destructive attitude of the monkeys and had tried to look for ways to stop them, without success.
“On several occasions, these monkeys have destroyed our kitchen nets to gain entrance and steal food items,” he said.
Mr. Joshua Folowosele, a landlord, said that the monkeys entered his wife’s shop on many occasions to eat gala, biscuits and other foods.
“We have tried to poison them on many occasions, but those monkeys are too smart; once they perceive the smell of the food, they usually detect it has been poisoned.
“Some of them have been killed with guns, but we cannot keep shooting in a residential area; it is very risky,” he said.
Another landlord, Mr. Oluwatosin Aregbesola, said that his tenants were no longer feeling safe in the house because of the monkeys.
“The monkeys enter kitchens to eat our soups and any food stuff on the shelf,” he said.
