News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the incident happened around 9 p.m. when the rangers were trying to put it back to its cage after they returned it from the national agricultural show which took place in Nasarawa state.

A source at the zoological garden told NAN that effort was being made to capture the animal which was still within the zoo premises.

Malam Rabiu Lawal, a resident of Zoo Road, told NAN that he has locked up his house until the announcement is made of the capture of the lion.

”My entire family members will be indoors even if it will take one month to recover the lion. I have not experienced this kind of fear since I packed into this area more than 15 years,” he said.

NAN reports that residents of the area went indoors earlier than usual to avoid the consequences of an encounter with a loose lion.

As at the time of filing this report armed policemen have been deployed to the area while a search team was trying to capture the lion.

All effort to contact the Managing Director of the Zoological Garden, Alhaji Saidu Gwadabe failed as his telephone line was not going through.