The Nigeria Police Force has warned protesters against attacks on banks, adding that perpetrators will be treated as armed robbers.
It had been reported that there has been an increase in the attacks carried out on banking facilities across the country due to the cash scarcity plaguing the nation.
Speaking on the situation, the Force spokesman Olumuyiwa Adejobi warned Nigerians to remain calm as defaulters would be dealt with.
He wondered how the bank would be able to serve Nigerians if its facilities have been destroyed by angry protesters.
Adejobi noted that it is against the law to go to banking facilities and carry out attacks adding that it can be compared to armed robbery.
“We complain 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?” he said in a recorded video posted on the NPF’s Facebook page Friday.
“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 warned.
He also warned against attacks on police officers, appealing to Nigerians to desist from such as the Force wants to use the “minimum force” on people.
The spokesman called on Nigerians to be civil in their protests while citing the recent events in Edo, Delta, Ogun, and some parts of Lagos State.
“A protest must be coordinated. We can be civil and do it better,” he added.
