Many commercial banks were overwhelmed yesterday by huge cash demands from their customers.

Thousands of Nigerians, who have been starved of cash for weeks, racedto banksin Lagos, Ondo and Ogun states as well as Abuja, hoping onCentral Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directiveto banks at the weekendto make the old N200 notes availablealongside the new N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.

Anger over the pains caused by the scarcity of cash led to another round of protests in Ogun State. Four banks were burnt during the violence in Sagamu, the state’s third largest city, while 30 of the protesters were arrested by the police.

As customers groaned to make withdrawals and deposit their old N500 and N1,000 notes, the CBN announced in a statement that they could still be redeemed till April 10 through its branches nationwide and the Federal Capital Territory(FCT).

In many bank branches visited by news reporters, customers were seen sitting on the floor waiting for their numbers to be called by security officers.

Most Automatic Teller Machines(ATMs), especially in Lagos Mainland, were still not loaded with cash yesterday.

Customers were given numbers at the gates of the banks before beingallowed into the banking halls where withdrawalswere limited to N20,000

At the Ajose Adeogun branch of Zenith Bank Plc, a huge crowd was seen at both the banking hall and outside the bank premises.

Roseline Adigun, a Lagos-based house cleaner, said she was paid N5,000 after waiting for three hours.

“I waited for three hours from 8 am to 11 am before I was paid N5,000. I will be back tomorrow(today) because the N5,000 cannot meet my immediate financial needs,” she said.

United Bank for Africa andLotus Bank at Ahmadu BelloWay, Victoria Island, also had huge crowds within their premises and banking halls. Both banks paid N10,000 to some lucky customers.

However, Sterling Bank Plc, Matori branch, Lagos, paid N20,000 to the first set of customers. It later slashed the amount to N10,000 as the crowd for cash withdrawals surged.

GTBank, Ajose Adeogun branch was not paying cash across the counter but its ATMs dispensed N10,000to customers.

In Akure, Ondo State capital, customers were paid N5000 per withdrawal against the N20,000 announced by the CBN.

A bank official at Polaris Bank, who pleaded anonymity, said the payment of N5,000 was to ensure the available cash got to many customers.

ATMs in Abeokuta, Ogun State were also not loaded with cash yesterday, leaving customers at the gates lamenting

Most banks in Abuja attended only to their account-holding customers across the counter. But the payments were mainly with mutilated N200 old notes

A staff memberof one of the banks told our reporter that some of their customers had to “return the mutilated N200 notes because they were too bad.”

* Bank associations pledge availability of cash

Three financial associations have, however, assured that theCBNand commercial banks would make the new naira notes and N200 old note available.

The unions are the Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB), the Committee of Heads of Operations of Banks (CHOBs) and the Committee ofChief Security Officers in Banks (CSOs).

They said in a statement byACAMB President,Rasheed Bolarinwa, that normalcy would return in the shortest possible time.

The statement reads in part: “The banks resolved to continuously engage customers on efforts being made to lessen the current hardship being experienced, pending when all the challenges will be resolved.

“The bank heads appealed to Nigerians, particularly the traders and merchants to embrace and adopt the cashless policy by accepting fund transfers from their customers.

“They noted that the random glitches associated with recent transfer options will also ease out in no distant time.”

The associations appealed to security agencies to increase patrol and surveillance of bank locations to forestall further attacks.

They re-emphasised that commercial banks neither hide nor hoard money they receive from the CBN.

*APC PCC accuses Atiku of inconsistency

The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APC PCC)has taken a swipe at thePeoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, for what it described as his inconsistency on the controversial naira swap.

The council said in a statement by itsDirector ofMedia and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga,thatAtiku speaks from both sides of his mouth.

It recalled how the PDP standard bearer initially hailed the policy and how he advised President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure its full implementation to undermine the aspiration of hisAPCopponent, Asiwaju BolaTinubu.

The council said:”We have observed the treacherous and shifting positions ofPDP’s candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar since the current currency crisis caused by the Central Bank started.

”In line with his well-documented inconsistencies and unreliability, Atiku has advanced several contradictory positions,in the fruitless hope of gaining political advantage from the crisis.

“We note that Alhaji Atiku and his hopeless party first hailed the CBN policy to high heavens when they initially thought it was a policy deliberately designed to stop Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu from becoming the next elected president of Nigeria.

“Atiku called on President Buhari and CBN Governor(Godwin Emefiele) to ensure strict implementation of the policy and the deadline of 31 January because, in his and the party’s short-sightedness and gross miscalculation, Tinubu was the prime target.

“Atiku’s position exploded on his facewhen the unintended consequences of the CBN policy manifested in its full ramifications and crippled the entire populace.”

Protests over naira scarcity heightened in Ogun State yesterday with four bank branches torched in Sagamu.

Thirty persons involved in the violence which spilt over to theSagamu Local Government Secretariat are currently in Police custody. Before they were apprehended, the protesters overturned offices in the secretariat and made away with the mace (symbol of authority) of the council’s legislature.

The protesters also made bonfires along the roads leading to the secretariat, Ita Oba,Sabo andGRA (Government Reservation Area), thereby disrupting vehicular movements and socio-economic activities.

Shortly after the Police restored normalcy in the city, GovernorDapo Abiodun,Paramount ruler of Remoland, Oba Babatunde Ajayi, and the House of Assembly Speaker,Olakunle Oluomo,appealed for calm by the residents.

The government blamed the opposition Peoples Democratic(PDP) for the incident. But the PDP dismissed the allegation as “spurious”

The state Police Command Spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the arrests, said:”Normalcy has been restored in greater parts of Sagamu. CP (Commissioner of Police)Frank Mba is personally leading police teams and some military men to tackle the situation

“No fewer than 30 suspects were arrested and they have been transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department on the order of the Commissioner of Police.

“Meanwhile, a combined team of Policemen and military men are on the groundmonitoringthe situation,”

The council chairman, Afolabi Odulate, who also confirmed the incident , said no one was hurt because the council workers were“movedaway before they(protesters) arrived.”.

Odulate added: “They stole the mace, shattered windows and broke doors at the secretariat.”

The state government and thePDPin state, however, ,traded blame over the violence.

The government, in a statement by Abiodun’s Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, described theprotestas politically-motivated.

It alleged that some PDP members in the Remo FederalConstituency orchestrated the violencedue to the success recorded by the All Progressives Congress(APC) during its Sunday rally.

The statement partly reads: “Early this (yesterday) morning, a politically-motivated violent protest took place in Sagamu, during which innocent people were attacked while banks and public infrastructure were destroyed and razed down..

“We were reliably informed that some disgruntled members of the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, and some of the party’s candidates were seen leading the demonstration.

“While the protests were purportedly against the “scarcity of naira notes”, the real intention of these elements became obvious with the involvement of known PDP members.

“We believe strongly that it was the success of the APC rally of yesterday (Sunday) that got the feeble opposition PDP frustrated and therefore made their members embark on the mindless destruction of properties.

“But we must not allow desperate politicians to mislead members of the public and use them as cannons to vent frustration.

“Rather, our people should exercise patience and be law abiding while waiting to cast their votes for the party that has stood by the populace even at this critical period.

“Arrests have been made by the police, who immediately swung into investigation.”

But the state chapter ofPDPdenied the allegation, saying the government was insensitive to the plight ofOgun residents.

It said: “The ruling party has failed the people and they are now reacting to the untoward hardship its policies had brought on them. Can they say that PDP was behind the protests in Oyo, Ondo and other states? Nigerians are just reacting. Instead of the ruling party owning up to Nigerians that their policies have brought hardship and pain to them, they are busy shifting the blame onto the opposition party.

“For the records, PDP has nothing to do with the protests in Sagamu or anywhere in the state. Let them go and check themselves. They are disconnected from the people. They should notput their failure on the PDP.”

Also, thePDP House of Representatives candidate for Remo Federal Constituency, Bola Oluwole, faulted the claim, saying the APC was afraid of the popularity of the opposition party.

Oluwole, in the statement titled, “Allegation of masterminding Sagamu,” said, “the allegation wasto smear my image.” . (The Nation)