Metro
Protest in Ibadan over naira notes scarcity
Angry bank customers burned tyres and blocked streets in Ibadan on Wednesday in protests over the scarcity of naira cash.
The protesters first converged on the Eleyele junction, in the Ibadan North West Local Government Area of the state.
The protesters blocked the ever-busy Eleyele-Ologuneru-Eruwa road, causing gridlock around the Eleyele-Ijokodo-Sango-Poly road.
As a result of the gridlock, motorists were accessing alternative routes.
Many school children were seen returning to their homes as commercial vehicles were not available.
A similar protest rocked the city on Friday, February 3, where some hoodlums within the popular Araromi spare parts market, Gate, took advantage of the protest and set ablaze a police station, stole the station’s Plasma TV, vandalised a branch of WEMA Bank in the area and looted some roadside shops.
As the protest gradually spread to Sango, Bodija Oju-Irin, Olorunsogo and other areas, the Oyo State Road Transport Management Agency (OYRTMA)’s boss, Mogaji Akin Fagbemi, has reportedly deployed officers to Eleyele in a bid to arrest the traffic situation.
Oyo State police said protests broke out in some parts of Ibadan, the state capital, early Wednesday, but were soon brought under control.
“There were pockets of protest this morning by some aggrieved bank customers,” spokesman Adewale Osifeso told AFP.
He said police were deployed to restore order but no arrests were made.
“Normalcy has since returned as the Command has taken all necessary action to forestall breakdown of law and order.”
Local residents said the unrest started in Dupe, Mokola, Ogunpa, Apata and Iwo Road areas when angry bank customers began protesting because they could not access their money or change old notes to new ones.
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