Gunmen have reportedly snatched N20m from accountants attached to Office of the Cabinet Department of the Ekiti Governor’s office on Wednesday during an attack.

The accountants were said to have been waylaid while returning from a new generation bank along Government Secretariat road, Ado- Ekiti where they had gone to withdraw the money.

An eyewitness, who craved anonymity, told our correspondent the arm-wielding attackers waylaid the accountants while returning from the bank and started shooting sporadically before they robbed them of the money.

He said: “The staff were paymasters and accountants attached to the Cabinet Department of the Governor’s office.

“They went to make withdrawal at the behest of their superior and while returning, the robbers waylaid them at a place between the Chicken Republic and Fajuyi Park and dispossessed them of the huge cash”.

The robbers were said to have shot into the air sporadically as they escaped from the scene through the GRA Area.

The incident crippled economic activities in the state capital as financial institutions, filling stations, supermarkets and eateries hurriedly shut down while motorists and commuters took to their heels.

The apprehension forced some banks to take strict security measures as news filtered round Ado metropolis that it was a case of bank robbery.

But the Ekiti Police Command allayed public fear, saying the rumoured bank robbery was untrue and baseless.

The Police Commissioner, Babatunde Mobayo, implored members of the public to disregard such fabricated and misleading false alarm, aimed at causing unnecessary apprehension.

Mobayo, in a statement by Command’s Spokesman, ASP Sunday Abutu, said: “For clarity, the incident that occurred today(Wednesday) in Ado-Ekiti was about a driver of a Toyota Corolla Car with about three other occupants who were accosted by a group of yet to be identified hoodlums and dispossessed them of some amount of money.

“Upon the receipt of the information, the Commander, Rapid Response Squad (RRS), led his Operatives to the scene but the hoodlums had fled the scene already.

“Meanwhile, some persons have been invited by the Police for interrogation and further investigation while serious effort is ongoing to arrest the fleeing suspects,” he said. (The Nation)

Update news