Robbery Scare Halts Banks’ Operations In Osogbo

By Solomon Odeniyi

There was pandemonium on Wednesday in Osogbo as customers in the banking premises scampered for safety following a reported armed robbery attack on banks at Ilesha.

The involved Banks are banks whose branches are along Fakunle-Ogo Oluwa-Olaiya axis which include; the Guarantee Trust Bank, First Bank, Union Bank and Skye Bank.

The result of the event subsequently led to the closure of the banks for the better part of the day.

An eye witness at GTBank, who spoke in confidence, said she was on the queue waiting to be attended to when the bank’s security operatives had a brief interaction with the cashiers asking them not to attend to anyone, before instructing everyone to leave for security reasons.

One of the security men who spoke to our correspondent admitted that customers were sent away to protect their lives in the event of an attack on the bank.

He said: ‘’ we received an alert from one of our branches at Ilesha that armed robbers were on rampage. We were advised to close operations to avert the scene that played out in Offa where money and other people’s belongings were charted away and lives were lost. We didn’t tell them this in order not to scare them, we only told them to leave for security reasons. We were also surprised to see them taking to their feet in the manner which they did”.

He added that the police and other security agents have been alerted to provide adequate security for their staffers and the people in the area.

Meanwhile, a visit to other banks along the same express road showed that First City Monument Bank, Diamond and Fidelity Banks were going about their normal business activities.

A security man at Diamond Bank told our correspondent that they have not received any call from anyone informing them about the robbery attacks or the need to close operations.

He added that they are also concerned about the lives of their customers and would stop operations as soon as they get an order.

At fidelity Bank it was a carnival like atmosphere as people in their mid twenties, clad in a lemon green apparels were seen grooving to the music from the live band on ground.

According to one of them, the carnival-like atmosphere was simply to grab the attention of their customers and prospective customers thereby informing them about their new offers.