Panic at MMIA over arrival of Ebola victim.

There was panic yesterday at the Murtala Mohammed
International Airport, MMIA, Lagos as a Nigerian, who
had already been cured of Ebola Virus Disease in Sierra
Leone arrived aboard Royal Air Maroc.
The ebola victim, Mr. Theophilus Onnakhinon, was flown
from Sierra Leone by the airline while his younger
brother, Mr. Chinedu Eroka was said to have absconded
from the Sierra Leonean authorities. It was not however
clear why Eroka absconded.
A source close to the Port Health at the Lagos Airport
confided in aviation reporters yesterday that the victim
had already been treated of Ebola virus in Sierra Leone
and cured of the disease by the health authorities of that
country after some weeks in their custody.
The source who doesn’t want to be named as he was not
allowed to talk to the media on the issue said that the
victim was assisted into the country by the Nigeria’s
consular officer, Mrs. T. Mohammed.
According to the source, the consular officer
accompanied the victim into the country in order to
avoid stigmatization by the Nigerian health officials and
other authorities at the airport.
On arrival in Nigeria, the victim was immediately handed
over to the Port Health officials at the Lagos airport who
immediately isolated and quarantined him.
As at the time of filing this report, the victim was said to
still being observed by the Port Health officials.
The source said that the essence of his being
quarantined in the country was for the Nigerian officials
to also check his health status and confirm that he was
free of the disease before being released to the public.
The source said, “It is true that there was Ebola scare at
the Lagos airport today, (yesterday) but the fact is that
the victim had been cured of the disease in Sierra Leone
before being assisted into Nigeria by our consular officer
in that country and immediately he landed, he was
handed over to the port health authorities who
immediately carried out checks on him and isolated him
from the other passengers.
“But, the truth is that we just want to recheck what has
already been done by the Sierra Leonean authorities. You
know, we cannot take chances again in the country. I
can assure you that the situation is under control.”
However, the Port health services at the Lagos Airport
have declined to comment on the issue and directed our
enquiry to the Ministry of Health.