From Ayodeji Demola, Ado Ekiti
Although bank robberies are not peculiar to Ekiti State, bank robbers in the state have left a considerable human toll which is considered the most worrisome impact apart from the direct economic loss to both the banks and the residents of the state.
Even though the precise amount of money stolen during bank robberies is difficult to know because even the banks have been unable to quantify them and even when they do, citizens are not provided with the details of what the robbers carted away, experts believe that the amount of money lost to these robberies is colossal.
Before the invading robbers struck, there was hardly a local government area in the state without functioning commercial banks. However, due to the activities of the men of the underworld, out of the 16 Local Government areas of the state, only a handful of them can now boast of a functioning bank. Many of the banks have been put under lock and key, some have even been overgrown with weeds due to the activities of the bank robbers.
To give some instances of the dastardly acts of the criminals, in May 2012, at the First bank Ilasa Ekiti in Ekiti East Local Government, no fewer than seven people including three policemen and four civilians were sent to their early grave by the murderous gang. The gang blew up the security door to the entrance of the bank with a dynamite explosive device to gain entrance. Unspecified amounts of money were carted away by the criminals. Till date the bank premises have been under lock and key.
Similarly, men of the underworld on 17th January, 2017, robbed a first bank branch in Emure Ekiti in Emure Local Government area of the state. Eyewitness account after the robbery revealed that a heavy explosive device was used to pummel the security door of the said bank. The bank was bombarded by unidentified numbers of armed robbers around 4pm like a scene in a movie. But fortunately no life was lost.
A similar incident also occurred in September 2018, in Igede Ekiti, in Irepodun ifelodun Local government of the state. After a group of armed robbers stormed a branch of Union Bank of Nigeria in the community, at least one person was killed in the process, while a security guard at the bank was seriously injured. In November 2021 armed robbers killed a policeman and a Special Marshall of the Federal Road Safety Corps o in Aramoko-Ekiti when they raided a Wema bank. It was also a dark day for residents of Ifaki Ekiti under the Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State when some dare-devil armed hoodlums invaded the community, killing a mobile policeman during an attack on a branch of First Bank in the area.
The long list of raided ban also included the raid of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) branch in Oye Ekiti that was attacked by the robbers in November 2019. By the time the dust settled, a five-year-old girl and a policeman were shot dead in the unfortunate incident. A police van was also burnt down by the robbers. However, the latest incident was the simultaneous robbery of the only two commercial banks in ikere Ekiti, the second largest community in Ekiti state in December 2023. In the ensuing melee, no fewer than three persons were mowed down and sent to their early grave by the armed robbers. Eyewitness account said that the daredevil armed robbers numbering twenty stormed the town around 5:15pm and carried out the attacks on the two commercial banks simultaneously. The robbers first attacked the Ikere command of the Amotekun Corps along Ise Road and shot some operatives before attacking the banks.
The eyewitness said in “the well coordinated attacks” which lasted about 45 minutes, the armed robbers reportedly killed three persons while scores sustained varying degrees of injuries. According to him, the gun-wielding robbers invaded Wema bank and Access bank located at Odo Oja and Okeosun respectively and broke the security door with the aid of dynamite before entering the banking hall.
The state capital, Ado Ekiti is not spared of these ugly incidents. As many commercial banks have been violently robbed leaving the tales of bloodletting behind. A particular first generation commercial bank at Okeiyimi area was invaded in May 2011 by no fewer than 27 armed robbers who came into town with a Hummer Jeep and an 18 seater bus. By the time the dust settled, a mother and an innocent child, a police officer attached to the bank, a vulcanizer who was working nearby and some other unidentified individuals were dispatched to their early grave.
In all the robberies incidents, most if not all the affected banks were robbed repeatedly. In most cases some banks were invaded twice or thrice within a year and they were never reopened. From available records, First Bank seems to have suffered more than other banks as many of their branches were targeted by the robbers. The consequence of this was that the customers were thrown into untold hardship. Many of the customers who are mostly civil servants are left with little or no option than to travel down to Ado-Ekiti to do bank transactions, however little or minor the nature of the transactions may be. Another implication is that it makes people especially those in the informal sector to be discouraged in banking and saving. Until lately when the issue of Point Of Sales (POS) vendors became popular, the stories from different local governments have been tales of suffering.
Some residents, who spoke to the Guardian on their experience of living in communities where there are no banks, described their situation as helpless. They contended that though the banks could not be blamed for not reopening their branches attacked by robbers, they heaped the blame on the government who has been unable to provide adequate security.
A school teacher residing in Ilasa Ekiti, Mrs Jolaubi Aribisala said that since 2012 when the bank in the community was shut down, it has been suffering galore for civil servants in particular. According to her, “sometimes we spent N3000 to go and solve a problem relating to a cash of N5000. You can imagine if you have issues with a transfer of as little as N2000, you must travel to Ado Ekiti to resolve it with your bank.”
Mr Ojo Olanipekun, a local government employee from Ode-Ekiti, in Gbonyin local government area of the state, said that he lost a sister because of the banking malaise. According to him, his sister travelled to Ado Ekiti for bank transaction unfortunately the vehicle she boarded was involved in a ghastly motor accident and she gave up the ghost before they rush her to the hospital. “Our situation is very lamentable. Even the POS that should have come to the rescue, the operators are taking advantage of the prevailing situation to exploit people, while many of them have folded due to lack cash with wish to pay customers. We are appealing to the banks to reconsider their decision and come back to our community.”
Mrs Ojo Rosaline, a trader from Ifaki lamented that since the bank in the community was closed down, those doing businesses that require daily banking have been thrown into an untold hardship. “You know that it is not safe to keep money at home because of the same robbers, so, we have to travel daily to Ado Ekiti to save our daily sales. Even with the advent of the POS operators, they can only receive limited amount of money. It is our hope that the branch of the first bank in this town will be reopening for the sake of the people residing here.”
Mr Akin Rotimi, a member of the House of Representatives, representing Ikole/Oye Federal Constituency in Ekiti, expressed dissatisfaction over the exodus of banks from many communities in his constituency.
The federal lawmaker said that the situation is the same in virtually all the major towns in Ekiti North Senatorial District, saying that the situation is unacceptable and something must be done to correct the anomaly.
Rotimi, who is the spokesperson for the Green Chamber, stated this while addressing reporters in Ikole-Ekiti, shortly after meeting 5,000 constituents and sharing yuletide gifts with them, said the withdrawal of commercial bank operations in Ikole-Ekiti and environs to the security challenges in the area. The constituency has been facing security challenges in recent years, resulting in several cases of bank robberies, with their attendant loss of lives.
The lawmaker, however, assured his constituents of concerted efforts to restore normalcy to the area with full resumption of banking operations.
“As at today, there is no single bank operating in Ikole- Ekiti because of the state of insecurity. This is something that needs to be corrected. I want to pledge that we will make efforts to ensure that financial institutions return to Ikole-Ekiti.”
A banker who spoke to the Guardian on condition of anonymity, explained that the shutting down of the operations of most of the banks was because the management of those banks was helpless in the face of repeated robberies without guarantee of security measures. Besides, he said that most of the banks were not making expected profits in those communities. “Many of those banks were already complaining of running those branches like mere social endeavors without corresponding profits. The robberies were just the last straw that broke the Camel’s back. Apart from the armed robbery incidents, the banks were already reducing their branches. For instance, First Bank has only two branches in Ekiti which are located in the state capital, just like GTB which also has two branches in the state. Capital.”
Speaking on the way out of the malaise, the banker posited that community banking must be encouraged. He also said that people living in the affected communities must embrace the cashless policy whereby they can perform banking operations in the comfort of their homes. According to him, the activities of the POS operators must be regulated to check exploitations of their customers. “Government must be alive to its responsibility by guaranteeing the security of lives and property of its citizens. Without assurance of adequate security, it would be difficult to persuade the banks to return into those communities.”
End.