Naira scarcity: Bank attackers will be treated as robbers – Police + Video

The Nigeria Police Force has said that anyone who attacks a bank in the ongoing protest against the hardship brought about by the Naira swap policy of the Federal Government would be treated as a robber.

There have been widespread protests in some states following the implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria policy.

In some states, banks have been burnt and their facilities, including Automated Teller Machines, destroyed.

Speaking on the development, the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said attacking banks was criminal.

In a video posted on the Facebook page of the Nigeria Police Force on Friday night, the Chief Superintendent of Police said: “We complain that banks don’t attend to us yet we go to their facilities and set them ablaze, destroy ATMs.

“How do you want them to serve you better if you have destroyed their facilities?

“I think we need to educate ourselves on what the law says about this.

“You don’t go to any bank, ATM or financial institution to attack.

“It is criminal and tantamount to armed robbery.

“If you are caught in the act, you will be treated as an armed robber.

“Even the ATM, as small as that machine is, has certain protections from the security agencies, particularly the police.

“It is an infrastructure that you don’t attack.

“If you do that, it is presumed that it is actually going there to rob.”

Adejobi said acceptable protests are those that are civil and as such Nigerians should comport themselves going forward.

He said: “A protest must be coordinated.

“We can be civil and do it better.

“And these guys that come out are not interested in demanding their monies or requesting anything from the government.

“It is just to loot shops.

“You can see the clips showing that these guys are there to foment troubles.

“They have their targets.”