POS business, thrift collection thrive
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
No fewer than 10 branches of old and new generation banks have been forced out of business in some communities in Osun State as a result of incessant armed robbery attacks, investigation conducted by The Point has revealed.
Among the affected banks are Wema Bank, Polaris Bank, First Bank, Access Bank, Union Bank and United Bank for Africa, in Ikirun, Ila-Orangun, Okuku, Apomu, Ikire, Iree and Iragbiji.
Checks by our correspondent revealed that the ease of doing business had been affected in the communities as the branches of the banks have ceased to function, following incessant attacks by armed robbers.
About 25 people, including 15 Police personnel and 10 civilians, had reportedly lost their lives in separate attacks on the affected banks from 2011 till date with many other residents of the communities, and local security agents sustaining varying degrees of gunshot injuries.
It was gathered that the robbery attacks carried out on the branches of the banks followed the same pattern. The gang of robbers (male and female) reportedly raided the banks and the closest police stations simultaneously during each operation.
They usually shot their ways into the banks to incapacitate the security men and scare customers and would, most often, break into the banks with explosives.
Most of the robbery attacks had been successfully carried out with the robbers carting away huge amounts of money after breaking into the strong rooms and damaging the Automated Teller Machines.
However, in a few other cases, the police reportedly foiled their operations by repelling their attempts to access the vaults.
The police said that they killed four robbers in one of the attacks in Ikirun during a gun duel and arrested four others.
The affected banks claimed that they recorded huge losses in the various robbery operations, hence, decided to close the local branches indefinitely and redeploy the staff to other branches.
Before the recently reported cases of bank robbery attacks, Ilesa and Iwo communities had bitter experiences in August 2011. A daredevil robbery gang broke into the First Bank branch at Isokun and carted away unspecified amount of money. The robbers were said to have used grenades to break open the bullet-proof door of the bank.
They were said to have shot dead a pregnant woman and a commercial motorcyclist while trying to escape from the scene with their loot. Some victims of the attack who sustained gunshot injuries were reportedly admitted for treatment at the Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa.
Also, in September 2011, a police officer, simply identified as Atama, was shot dead in a 30-minute bank robbery operation in Iwo, headquarters of Iwo Local Government Area, with four persons sustaining gunshot injuries.
Four banks near Bowen University in Iwo were attacked simultaneously with explosives. The affected banks in Ilesa and Iwo reopened after about two years of closure.
About five years after, men of the underworld resurfaced in 2016 and attacked three banks in Ikirun, Ifelodun Local Government Area.
Specifically on February 12, 2016, the police confirmed that two personnel and two bank officials were killed by armed robbers with no fewer than five others sustaining injuries in multiple bank raids.
The gang of armed robbers invaded former Skye Bank (now Polaris), First Bank and Union Bank in the town. Despite the claim that the police foiled the robbery operations, the attacked banks, located on the major street in Ikirun, had yet to open as at last week when our correspondent visited the town.
The then police commissioner, Kola Sodipo, said that four of the robbers were killed while four others, Aderibigbe Oluwaseun, 23; Ndubusi David, 21; Ayuba Salisu, 26; and Nuhu Jimoh, 21; were arrested.
Sodipo said that the police recovered the sum of N7, 486,300 from the hoodlums, adding that three AK47 riffles with 124 rounds of ammunition, one assault rifle with 12 rounds of live ammunition, some expended shells of ammunition and dynamites, were also recovered.
The former police boss said that one standby Nissan Sunny car, which the robbers wanted to use for escape, was also recovered.
On June 7, 2017, some commercial banks in Iwo came under attack for the second time.
Four policemen guarding the banks were said to have been killed while one of the robbers was also said to have been gunned down during the operation.
Again, the affected branches of the banks shut down for about three years before they were reopened in 2020.
The Point gathered that the five banks in the town now open for transactions between 9am and 1pm on weekdays.
In Ila-Orangun, on January 25, 2019, residents of the town were thrown into grief when some daredevil armed robbers attacked a branch of Polaris Bank located at the Oke Ejigbo area of the town.
The men of the underworld reportedly killed a policeman, simply identified as Oloke-Mewa, who was among the security team at the bank. Also killed was a medical doctor simply identified as Moshood. Two other people were reportedly injured. The only bank in the town has folded up indefinitely.
Residents of the state heaved a sigh of relief for some time until March 14, 2021 when a branch of Wema Bank in Okuku came under attack.
Between March and September 28 when the robbery attack occurred, five branches of commercial banks in Ikire, Apomu, Iree and Iragbiji, the hometown of Governor Gboyega Oyetola, were attacked by heavily-armed robbers with all the operations taking similar patterns.
During the latest raids, about 10 lives were reportedly lost with many residents and security agents injured.
“About 25 people, including 15 Police personnel and 10 civilians, had reportedly lost their lives in separate attacks on the affected banks from 2011 till date with many other residents of the communities, and local security agents sustaining varying degrees of gunshot injuries”
During the Okuku bank robbery on Thursday, March 11, two people were confirmed killed. The gang, said to have been led by a woman, while leaving the town afoot after the bloody operation, ran into a farmer sitting in front of his house along Iba Road and opened fire on him.
A resident of the university community (name not given), whose shop is near the attacked bank, said that the second victim, a commercial motorcyclist, was also shot dead during the robbery operation.
Efforts by the police in the state to arrest the robbers in concert with the members of the Oodua People’s Congress, proved abortive.
According to a statement by the police commissioner in the state, Wale Olokode, the robbers carted away the sum of N600, 000 during the operation.
Olokode, in a statement made available to journalists by the Public Relations Officer of the Command, Superintendent of Police, Yemisi Opalola, disclosed that the robbers forced an employee of the bank to open the bank’s ATM from where they stole the money.
The statement read that the robbers gained access into the bank premises by intercepting an employee of the bank while trying to lock the rear exit door after close of business. Ever since the attack happened, Wema Bank, which is the only financial institution in Okuku, has yet to re-open for business.
Residents of the state would wish that the attack on the bank in Okuku was the last in the series of attacks, but on June 2, a gang of dare-devil robbers raided the branches of Access Bank in Apomu and First Bank in Ikire, as well as the Ayedaade Divisional Police Headquarters in Ikire.
The police said in a statement that seven people, including two police officers and two constabularies, lost their lives during the attack.
But, some residents of the communities claimed that the figure of the causalities was higher. The police stated that a gang of robbers, numbering 35, at about 6:10pm on Wednesday, June 2, attacked two commercial banks in Ikire and Apomu communities.
The police added that the robbers were, however, repelled by a combined team of cops and personnel of some local security outfits. They added that seven people died in the attack and properties belonging to the affected banks and some private individuals were damaged.
The banks in the two communities have yet to resume operations ever since.
Barely two months after the attacks on the banks in Ikire and Apomu, two commercial banks in Iree, Boripe Local Government Area of the state were robbed on August 5.
The police confirmed that the hoodlums killed a police constabulary, Dauda Jelili, and carted away an undisclosed sum of money during the operation.
Opalola said in a statement that about 20 armed men carried out the attack in which four civilians sustained gunshot injuries.
“The armed robbers, numbering about 20, came in a commando-like style with about four vehicles and simultaneously attacked the Iree Divisional Police Headquarters with explosives and several gun firing.
“The robbers attacked the police division in an attempt to disorganise, incapacitate and destabilise the police officers who were in a fierce gun battle with them, while they were robbing Access Bank and United Bank for Africa simultaneously.
“The police, thereafter, gave the criminals a hot chase and recovered four of the vehicles used for the operations along with some live ammunition. Some of the robbers subsequently fled into the bush with bullet wounds and also carted away certain amount of money, yet to be ascertained from the banks,” the PPRO said.
When our correspondent visited Iree, both the Access Bank and UBA in the town were seen under lock and key.
The latest attack on banks in Osun State occurred on Tuesday, September 28, in Iragbiji, headquarters of Boripe Local Government Area.
The police said that about 20 dare-devil armed robbers attacked a police station and a branch of Wema Bank in the town in broad daylight on the fateful day.
The state police command said that two of its newly promoted Inspectors, Ogunbiyi Ahmed, and Odeyemi Ayinla, were killed during the bank robbery.
Opalola, in a statement, said that the robbers could not access the bank’s vault as a team of security operatives, including the police and Amotekun, stormed the scene a few minutes after the raid started. She added that some of the robbers fled with gunshot wounds with the suspects abandoning two of the four vehicles that they brought for the operation.
Residents of Ikirun, Iree, Ada, Okuku and other adjoining towns are experiencing discomfort with the attack on the bank in Iragbiji, being the only commercial bank servicing them since the banks in their various communities had packed up owing to recurrent robbery attacks.
POS, thrift collection to the rescue
As a result of the collapse of banks in the affected towns, Point Of Sale businesses have been witnessing a significant boom. Residents of the communities, especially undergraduates, now patronise POS operators for financial transactions. Also, some traders and entrepreneurs, who hitherto, saved their money in banks, now make do with thrift collectors.
“I must confess that I have been making more profit ever since the commercial banks in our community closed shop after they were robbed. Most people, especially UNIOSUN students, prefer using the POS here in Ikire than going to Osogbo where banks are operating.
“If you check the transportation cost, one would decide to make use of POS. There is no delay in getting transactions done,” a POS operator, who simply identified herself as Folasade, told The Point in Ikire.
She added, “Before (the bank robbery attack), POS operators in the town were not more than five. But now, we are close to 20. Everyone is still making profit because people now patronise us (POS operators) more.
“However, we are battling with cases of robbery in this town. Some touts do rob us. For instance, last week, that POS operator (pointing at a man in a nearby kiosk), was robbed by some thieves. Most of these POS robbers are indigenes.”
A recharge card seller in Iree, who did not want to be named, said that she resorted to saving her money with a thrift collector since her bank ceased operation.
She confirmed that the number of those who engaged in thrift collection had increased in the town, stressing, “I now keep my savings with ‘alajo’ (thrift collector). I feel it is safer and wiser than keeping the money with me.”
Community leaders, residents live in despair over growing crime
Leaders of some of the affected towns have expressed their displeasure over the insecurity in their various communities. Lamenting the effects of the robbery attacks on the banks, they called for improved security in their towns in order to curb the growing spate of crime. Some residents of the affected communities are afraid that with the worsening crime rate, the attacked banks may be relocated to a safer place.
A chief in Iree, who spoke under the condition of anonymity for security reasons, expressed worry over what he called state government’s insensitivity to security of lives and property of the residents of the town. He expressed his displeasure against the government’s failure to assist family members of an indigene of the town, a police constabulary, who was reportedly killed in line of duty during an attack by some bandits in the community.
The elderly man said, “If other banks in adjoining towns can be robbed, few months after ours were invaded, I don’t see any reason why we should think that our government is serious about curbing the incessant attacks on banks and police stations. Our banks have been paralysed since they were attacked. Some of us only use POS to withdraw and send money while others travel to Osogbo for bigger transactions that would require a bank.
“Lack of bank has affected our economy but what can we do? The way things are, I don’t see these two banks in Iree resuming operations anytime soon because other towns close by are also witnessing attacks.
“Our pain now is that we lost one of our sons to the robbery. He had summoned courage to face the robbers but he was shattered with explosives. Another indigene sustained gunshot injuries. Despite the courage displayed by Jelili, the state government did not deem it necessary to assist the family that he left behind. It is clear that we don’t have a government.”
A resident of Iragbiji, who identified himself simply as Hakeem, disclosed that some of the hoodlums, who unleashed terror on the Wema Bank in the community, were indigenes. According to him, the robbers were suspected to have carried out the robbery attack in Iree before regrouping to raid Iragbiji a few weeks after.
Hakeem said, “We noticed that some of these robbers are those who know our terrain very well. People said that some of them even joined some Muslims in the afternoon prayer before carrying out the operation. Sometimes, they pretend as if they are scavenging just to monitor and see when it is safe to attack.
“We heard that some of the robbers disguised and visited the residence of one of the killed police officers to know his whereabouts. The two officers, who were killed in the bank robbery in Iragbiji, were said to have assisted in foiling some robberies in one of the adjoining towns.”
The people of the affected communities, describing the situation being faced as ridiculous, urged the authorities to address the situation on time to ameliorate their ordeals.
