Four Killed As Robbers Storm OOU Banks

Four persons were confirmed dead while about six others were seriously injured by stray bullets on Thursday when armed robbers invaded banks on the campus of Olabisi Onabanjo University, OOU, Ago-Iwoye in Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State, southwest Nigeria.

The armed robbers numbering about 12 around 11.20am stormed the campus in a Toyota Camry car and a white Toyota Space bus.

An eyewitness told our correspondent that the robbers seemingly acting on information struck as students of the institution were in the rush to meet the deadline of the payment of their school fees which ends today.

The robbers, according to the eyewitness, raided five of the 10 banks on the campus. The affected banks are Skye Bank, FCMB, Oceanic, Intercontinental and GTBank.

The five banks that were spared are First Bank and OOU Micro Finance Bank. The other three, Sterling Bank, Afribank and UBA, have since closed down due to incessant attack by armed robbers.

The attack which lasted for about 45 minutes claimed two graduating students from the Faculty of Management Science whose identity could not be ascertained as at the time of filling this report. It was learnt that the students had come for their national youth service call-up letters.

The robbers who came with arms and ammunition used rocket launcher and dynamites to shatter the doors of the banks and carted away billions of naira.

Some students who spoke with our correspondent explained that the security personnel in the campus were overpowered by the robbers. Policemen at a checkpoint near  the campus disappeared as soon as they heard of the robbers’ operation.

P.M.News gathered that a nursing mother with a baby on her back was hit by a bullet and was taken to hospital.

Banks in Ijebu North Local Government Area of the state have been the target of the robbers in the recent times, a development which has made all banks in Ijebu Igbo, the headquarters of the local government to closed down their operation except WEMA Bank which operates once or twice in a week.

It was gathered that the robbers escaped through Ago Iwoye as they shot sporadically to scare away people.

—Abiodun Onafuye/ Abeokuta