Angry protesters torch banks in Ogun over scarcity of Naira notes

*Abimbola Oyeyemi, Spokesman of Ogun State Command of the Nigeria Police, Monday, February 20 says the protesters attacked branches of the Union Bank, First Bank and Keystone Bank over the current cash crunch, disclosing the Police officers had been deployed to the area to control the situation

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

As the overarching effects of the current Naira scarcity cum fuel scarcity bite harder, affecting Nigerian consumers and socio-economic activities, protesters Monday, February 20, 2023, attacked three commercial banks as a demonstration rocked the Sagamu area of Ogun State.

Abimbola Oyeyemi, Nigeria Police Spokesman in the state, confirmed the development in a telephone chat with Channels TV Monday.

Oyeyemi disclosed the Union Bank, First Bank and Keystone Bank branches were attacked by protesters during the demonstration.

The Ogun Police Spokesman, however, said police officers had been deployed to the area to quell the situation.

He stated: “We are in Sagamu now. The place is seriously burning,” Oyeyemi said. “They attacked Union Bank and First Bank as well as Keystone Bank. We are there right now.”

It is recalled that similar protests have erupted across several states amid the scarcity of new Naira notes and petroleum resources in the West African country.

In the process, banks’ property, especially the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) were vandalised by aggrieved citizens, whose money is trapped in the banking system as of now.

President Muhammadu Buhari, Thursday, February 16 had said the old N500 and N1,000 notes ceased to be legal tender, but extended the validity of old N200 notes till April 10, 2023.

About 10 state governors have since approached the Supreme Court to step aside the directive of the President in the case set to hear at the Supreme Court February 22.