Managers of a Guinean chimpanzee research institute have confirmed that residents invaded the facility after a lady claimed one of the animals killed her infant.

The centre’s operators reported an irate crowd destroyed and burned drones, computers, and over 200 papers. Eyewitnesses stated the mob was reacting to the news that a mangled newborn was found 3 km (1.9 miles) near the UNESCO World Heritage Site Nimba Mountains Nature Reserve.

A mother, Seny Zogba who spoke with journalists, claimed that a chimpanzee crept up from behind, bit her, and pulled her infant into the forest while she was working in a cassava field.

Local biologist Alidjiou Sylla claimed the reserve’s food shortage was forcing animals to leave more often, increasing the risk of assaults.

The research centre reported six chimpanzee attacks on humans in the reserve this year. The greatest population of the severely endangered western chimpanzee, thought to have decreased by 80% between 1990 and 2014, is in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

Guinea’s Bossou woodland, part of the Nimba Mountains Nature Reserve and near Nzerekore Region subsistence farmers, has only seven left.

Guinean chimpanzees are respected and given food, therefore some leave the protected area and attack humans. Environmentalists worry about chimpanzees’ impact from mining Guinea’s greatest iron ore reserve in the Nimba Mountains.

President Bola Tinubu has assured Nigerians that he is not in office for personal or financial gains but to work and serve them and the country.

Tinubu, who gave the assurance on Friday during a meeting with the Forum of Former Presiding Officers of the National Assembly led by former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, insisted that his administration was “focused on delivering tangible results and making a positive difference in the nation’s infrastructure, food and energy security, education and long-term economic stability.”

While addressing his guests, the president was quoted as saying:

“I didn’t come to look for money and exploit the situation; I came to work. I asked for the votes, and Nigerians gave them to me.”

A statement issued by Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, titled, ‘I didn’t come to look for money, I came to work’, President Tinubu tells forum of former NASS presiding officers,” further emphasized his commitment to working for the benefit of Nigerians despite the current hardship they are going through.

“Yes, there is hardship, but how did we get here? What did we do when we had very high crude production? We neglected our communities; we neglected the goose that lay the golden eggs; we forgot even to give them a good standard of living,” the statement said.

“We forgot to educate our children. Go around and look at the dilapidated schools. The education environment must be decent enough for pupils to want to learn.

“We can complain from now till eternity that the school enrolment is low. But did we do anything to encourage the enrolment process? We must ask ourselves because it is a matter of conscience,” he said.

The President also outlined his administration’s focus on addressing these challenges, including improving infrastructure, upgrading Nigeria’s infrastructure to drive economic growth and development,
ensuring compliance with financial regulations promote transparency and accountability, exploring alternative energy sources and providing energy security.

“We have come a long way, and I promise we must do our best,” Tinubu added.

Sixteen former presiding officers attended the meeting including former senate presidents, former speakers of the House of Representatives, former deputy senate presidents, and former deputy speakers of the House of Representatives.