Bank robbers terrorise South-West states
Written by Comfort Oseghale
When Ade Omotara went to cash some money she needed urgently for some purchases penultimate Monday in Lagere, Ile-Ife, Osun State, little did she know that her ordeal of being unable to have money would last the whole week.



The reason was that all the banks in Ife shut their doors to customers from that day on account of the information that robbers would attack them. Seeing that the robbers meant business, all the banks closed up, leaving customers in limbo.

Though Wema Bank opened three days later, it was only for a few hours with a heavy presence of security men.

The same thing happened in Ilesa, a distance of about 40km from Ile-Ife.

In recent times, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo and Osun states have had one thing in common besides being in the South-West.

Banks in the respective state capitals and many of the towns in those states had from the last week of November regularly shut their doors to customers for fear of being attacked by armed robbers, who were said to have written letters to the institutions that they were coming to raid them.

The spate of robbery attacks which these commercial banks had endured for some time had left the police helpless and grasping at straws. The commercial banks operating in major towns in Ogun State had been closed for 10 days, starting with the ones in Sagamu. While bank customers groaned under the artificial cash crunch, the bank operators stood their ground not to reopen for business until their safety could be guaranteed.

Several banks operating in Abeokuta, Ilaro, Ijebu-Ode, Ago-Iwoye, Sagamu, Ota, Ifo and Ijebu-Igbo were all said to have come under robbery attacks last month. At the Onabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, three lives were lost when armed men invaded several banks on the campus. A 20-man gang was said to have raided five banks in an operation that lasted 45 minutes after blowing up the security doors of the banks with dynamites. Around the same period, some commercial banks at Sagamu suffered the same fate after armed robbers struck. In all these attacks, huge sums of cash were reportedly carted away, while lives were lost in the process.

For residents living in Ife and Ilesa, the last three months have been one of terror as armed robbers launched an unrelenting campaign against commercial banks. Last September, armed robbers numbering about 50 attacked four banks at Oke-Odo, carting away millions of naira. The robbers, who reportedly came in three buses and a Mazda car, overwhelmed the policemen who came to the scene. A police inspector was reportedly killed in the attack. A few days later, another robbery attack was launched in the heart of the town on two new generation banks. The robbers reportedly made away with an unspecified amount.

These bank workers were so traumatised by the reports of these attacks that a rumour of an impending armed robbery attack forced all banks to shut their doors last week again. Even banks located within the Obafemi Awolowo University campus were not spared: students who had arrived early with the hope of making withdrawals were greatly disappointed as the banks were locked. In a show of force, the police command, Osun State, reportedly mounted roadblocks at strategic locations within and outside the town. A patrol team was deployed to put the threat under check; however that did not convince the banks to reopen for business.

In Akure, four persons lost their lives last month when a 15-man gang attacked a new generation bank. In an operation that reportedly lasted an hour, dynamites were used to blow open the bank’s bullet-proof doors.

Although three of the gang members were arrested by the police who gave chase, the rest were able to escape with their loot. The experience has since set all bank operators in Akure on edge. Things came to a head after a robbery attack on the Idanre branch of a first generation bank last week: all commercial banks shut their doors in protest of the unrelenting attacks.

Following the trend in Ogun, Osun and Ondo, bank operators in Ibadan followed suit, shutting their doors when rumours of impending armed robbery attacks made the rounds. At no time has the deficiencies of the police been more apparent than now.

Even as the police commands in the affected states have remained helpless, there has been no word from the Inspector-General of Police, apart from the 300 mobile policemen he sent to Ogun State to save the situation. Yet, the major burden has been left for the South-West governors and the respective police commissioners to fashion a way out of their dilemma.

Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun, in an attempt to calm frayed nerves, was quoted as saying that plans were under way to acquire armoured personnel carriers. He said, "Let me assure you that we as a government are more concerned. I can tell you that we have taken delivery of one or two APCs and another 10 units are on the way. Ultimately, we plan to have about 30 units. But you know the huge investment required; that is why we are trying to see how we can partner with the people for assistance."

Published reports of a meeting held between Ondo and senior bank officials in THE PUNCH on Tuesday had focused on the strategies to get commercial banks re-open for business. The Commissioner for Finance, Chief Yele Ogundipe, who presided over the meeting, had explained that the government would continue to invest in the maintenance and sustenance of internal security in the state.

Bankers and security agencies at the meeting were assured that the state government would acquire Close Circuit Televisions and mount them in major streets for community surveillance. Ogundipe said, "The state has taken delivery of five new Armoured Personnel Carriers to boost the internal security network during festive period and plans are underway to purchase more APCs."

Clearly, the underlying theme was the funding of the police commands, which has over the years been a recurring decimal in public discourses on their inability to combat crime.