Penultimate Thursday, the sleepy Isanlu town, the headquarters of the Yagba East Local Government Area, was jolted by a robbery invasion. The armed bandits, numbering 25, snuffed life out of some customers after a gruesome robbery attack on a branch of the First Bank Plc. To ensure that they carried out their operation without any let or hindrance, the criminal gang also raided the Divisional Police Station, killing about eight policemen, including their boss.
The Isanlu incident that left the bank building badly damaged took the community aback. The inhabitants of the town had had a respite in recent years. Robbery attacks on the only bank in the town became so rampant at a point that the management of the bank shut down its operation for a very long time, rendering the residents of Isanlu and the neighbouring communities bankless.
The Thursday tragedy came about two years after a similar incident involving five commercial banks and a finance house in Offa, Kwara state. The heist, executed in broad daylight, left a total of nine police officers and no fewer than 30 civilians dead on the spot.
The massacre was reportedly carried out by a gang of 30 well-armed hoodlums during the operation that lasted for more than one hour. At the end of the day, more than N50m was carted away by the criminals who had arrived at the scene in a convoy of seven vehicles. The manner of the operation was also unprecedented. Armed with powerful explosives, the rampaging criminals blew their way into the banking halls, ripped through the bank vaults in a commando style and shot indiscriminately in all directions to scare customers away.
As at the last count, the unconfirmed casualty figure was said to have risen to 50, while several others who received gunshot wounds were receiving medical attention in various hospitals in the town. About seven Offa robbers were later apprehended shortly after but nothing is heard about their trial let alone conviction.
The Isanlu disaster has once again brought to the fore the worrisome security challenges around the nation’s banking communities which are considered not only to be grossly under-guarded by armed police personnel but also considerably outnumbered and outgunned by criminal elements.
The robbery incidents have become so prevalent in some communities across the country in recent years that commercial banking activities in such areas have either been suspended or completely shut down. This is because the police authorities could not provide adequate security personnel to secure the bank premises. And as far back as 2009, robbers laid a siege on the South-east to the extent that all commercial banks in Awka, the Anambra state capital, closed their premises to customers because of poor security situation and the threat to the lives of workers and customers.
The nefarious activities of these elements are not confined to the bank premises alone. The phenomenon has stretched to the highways where bullion vans are easy targets.
For instance, in 2017 alone, series of attacks were carried out on bullion vans across the country: On July 6, robbers struck at Ireje village along Akure road in Ondo state. The well-armed criminals opened fire on a bullion van but the police escort returned fire and succeeded in securing the cash, while the robbers fled with varying degrees of injuries. On September 5, highway robbers waylaid a bullion van along Benin-Asaba Expressway and succeeded in carting away about N12m after overpowering the police escort. On December 8, daredevil hoodlums intercepted a bullion van around the Koko junction in Asaba, Delta state, and succeeded in making away with an unspecified amount of money after exchanging gunfire with the police escort.
Earlier in August, 2016, armed bandits, disguised as military men, intercepted a convoy of Abuja-bound bullion vans belonging to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at Hawan Kibo, Plateau state, and helped themselves to several millions of naira after gunning down two mobile policemen.
The Isanlu robbery is another tragedy too many and capable of further eroding the confidence of the people in the government’s ability to protect its citizens and guarantee security of their properties.
The government and banks also have a responsibility to ensure the security of the cash and lives of their customers. Nobody should go to the bank for financial transactions only to lose their lives. It is unfortunate that virtually all the banks which have become constant targets of armed robbers are not adequately secure, whereas there are police personnel that are in excess of the requirement guarding many public officials and private citizens. There is also the need to thoroughly investigate and/or grill bank staff after any incidents to fish out collaborators.
It is equally obvious that the security surveillance mounted at the various banks is not good enough to discourage the criminals. The banks need to upgrade the security architecture of their premises to match the sophistication of modern-day robbery. This should include installation of functional CCTV cameras that will capture the scenes in the event of an attack on any bank premises. It is not just enough to be basking in huge profits at the expense of their customers without whom there will be no basis for their existence in the first place.
