Armed robbers wreak havoc in Aba.
Force banks, shops to close, cart away millions of naira.


What appeared as a rumour yesterday became a reality when gunmen believed to be armed robbers, laid siege on the Alaoji axis of the commercial city of Aba, Abia state, robbing a first generation commercial bank and carted away millions of naira, sending fears down the spines of the people within the vicinity.

The rumour mill was agog on Tuesday that some die hard criminals known in Aba parlance as Umuoma had invaded the city from a neighbouring state and that their target were banks. The unconfirmed rumour led to the abrupt closure of some commercial banks. As at 2 pm, the gate of a second-generation bank at No. 90 Asa Road was shut while many of their customers were stranded.

A staff of the bank told Daily Sun that they had to close following information that the robbers were already in town. She said the bank did not want to take any risk, as it could not bear the outcome of any robbery attack.
Armed robbers, clad in army uniforms had entered the city on Wednesday and raided the First Bank office along Port-Harcourt Road in Aba where they carted away millions of naria.
According to an eyewitness account, the robbers battled themselves into the bank before noon and made their way straight into the banking hall. Before then, they had blocked all roads leading to the bank as they shot sporadically into the air to scare away people.

It was gathered that they collected all the monies from the customers of the bank and the ones in the bank’s drawers after which they moved to the vault. However, the source explained that the robbers were unable to open the vault as the police approached with Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) before they fled.

Robbers had also on Tuesday forced banks in Aba to close for business as they terrorized and robbed some banks along the Faulks Road of the city. By 2 pm that Tuesday, many of the banks in the city had closed for work while their gates were shut against customers who had gone to do business with the banks that afternoon.
Wednesday’s robbery attack forced all commercial banks in the city to close for business. Equally, traders at the Asannentu motor spear parts, which were near the bank where the incident took place, closed their shops and scampered for safety. A trader in the market told Daily Sun that it was only during the Nigeria civil war; “I heard that type of vociferous sound of high caliber riffles, it was like a war situation.”

There was heavy traffic for several hours on the Alaoji axis of the Enugu-Port Harcourt highway after the robbery incident, as motorists were scared of using that portion of the road even when the criminals had left.



http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/june/03/national-03-06-2010-016.htm

Deep Soul:

These ibo boys sha. They have just been terrorising everybody. The newest one is kidnapping innocent people for ridiculously low amounts of money.

wetin do dis ibo boyz? you should be directing your anger at the govt and law enforcement authority, who have failed to restore law and order in that city.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY SEF? WHAT THE HECK IS THE GOVT. DOING OVER THERE? NAWA O, I TIRE FOR THIS COUNTRY SEF.

wow!

davidif:

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY SEF? WHAT THE HECK IS THE GOVT. DOING OVER THERE? NAWA O, I TIRE FOR THIS COUNTRY SEF.

Nothing . . .

exago:

Nothing . . .

nothing is wrong with this Nation, give a different set of people same oppurtunity and they will do better.

davidif:

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY SEF? WHAT THE HECK IS THE GOVT. DOING OVER THERE? NAWA O, I TIRE FOR THIS COUNTRY SEF.

I think this will determine where Aba, even Abia goes from here. It is sad but I think this jolt is necessary to know what awaits the state. If the people, as always, do nothing, then it might get worse from here and neighboring states will be forced to take measures to protect themselves from it all. With all the so-called aba boys(some of whom I suspect are involved) I see no reason why Aba continues to suffer at the hands of bad leaders.

Our police personnel are just hungry men who are burdened with the load of a gun without bullets! We are in a chaotic society and what vexes me is that our politicians are not even bothered, infact they have been accused of even having a hand in all these! God help us