NewStats: 3,264,432 , 8,183,704 topics. Date: Wednesday, 11 June 2025 at 05:17 AM 5r6s3h

From PETER OFFOR, Aba Wednesday, September 29 , 2010 Commercial banks in Aba, the commercial and industrial hub of Abia state have for the fifth time in less than four months, hurriedly shut down for business due to fear of insecurity in the city. Also, gunmen suspected to be kidnappers yesterday abducted workers of a bakery outfit along Obohia Road. According to investigations, the banks’ closure was as a result of the high state of insecurity in the city, which climaxed on Monday with the kidnap of 15 pupils of a private school in Aba. When Daily Sun visited some of the banks located on Ikot Ekpene, Factory, Eziukwu, Faulks, Asa, Azikiwe and Ngwa Roads, gates to their main entrances were firmly locked as only security men were on duty. Some of them who spoke under the cover of anonymity said the closure was as a result of kidnappings and other violent crimes going on unabated in the city. One of them was emphatic when reminded that no bank in the city had been attacked in recent times by armed robbers, “ oga you leave for this town, you no de hear the thing wey they happen?” He said the closure was a precautionary measure and that banks should not wait until they are attacked. A manager with a branch of one of the new generation banks who would not want his name in print opined that it was better to take such measures and save lives, stressing that the closure may last for one week if nothing drastic was done about the precarious security situation in Aba. He said for a long time, they have been under fear and threat of the hoodlums and said banks in Aba have decided not to work under such environment again. He pleaded with their customers for understanding while appealing to the authorities to do something urgently to save the situation. As the banks were under lock and key, kidnappers yesterday struck at a popular bakery on Obohia road and abducted most of the workers. Sources said the kidnappers stormed when the workers had just settled down for the day’s business. As at the time of filing in this report, no formal channel of communication had been established between the kidnappers and the management of the bakery outfit.