Bankers in Ijebu-Ode and its environs in Ogun State have clashed with the police command over claims of robbery threats in the area.
Some banks in Ijebu-Ode have shut down since Tuesday claiming robbers wrote informing them to be ready with cash ahead of their attack.
The closure of the financial institutions forced residents to go to Sagamu or Ago-Iwoye for banking transactions.
It was learnt that the police Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) stationed in Ijebu-Ode, which provided cover for the area, developed a fault and was yet to be fixed, forcing the bankers to conclude that it would be risky to open for business without reliable security.
But police spokesman Abimbola Oyeyemi said the command had doubled security personnel in Ijebu Ode, recalling that there had not been any bank robbery attack in Ogun State in the last eight or nine years apart from the one in the Agbara area in 2013.
Abimbola said if the bankers have issues with the APC, they should notify the police or the governor Dapo Abiodun, and not resort to crying wolf where there was none.
Abimbola in a statement yesterday said the shut-down was unprofessional and unwarranted.
The statement reads: “They claimed armed robbers wrote to inform them that they were coming to attack them, but they would not make the purported letter available to the police for investigation and possible apprehension of those behind it.
“The command therefore wishes to warn that the bankers will surely be the first set of suspects if anything unusual in the form of bank robbery happens in the area, at least for them to disclose their ceaseless sources of information.
“The commissioner of police CP Edward Awolowo Ajogun has directed a full scale investigation into this their present claim of receiving a letter from armed robbers.”