Army: We evacuated N2bn from banks when hoodlums vandalised ATMs, vaults

Ahmed Taiwo, commander of the 81 military intelligence brigade, Victoria Island, Lagos, says soldiers evacuated about N2 billion from banks during the widespread looting that trailed the #EndSARS protests in the state.

Taiwo, a brigadier general, disclosed this when he appeared before the Lagos judicial panel of inquiry on Saturday.

Speaking on the crisis that followed the Lekki tollgate incident, he said financial institutions were the most targeted places during the attacks on government and private properties.

On October 20, hours before a curfew was scheduled to begin, men in army uniform had stormed the Lekki tollgate, where #EndSARS protesters had gathered, and shot into the air in what appeared to be an attempt to disperse the demonstrators.

Although the army now says it was not aware that the Lagos state government moved the curfew time from 4pm to 9pm, the incident had attracted widespread condemnation within and outside Nigeria.

In the hours following the incident, the attacks by hoodlums in Lagos took a more dangerous dimension, with properties vandalised across the state.

According to the army general, the evacuation was done because most automated teller machines (ATM) and vaults in some banks were damaged.

He did not, however, provide the names of the banks that the money was evacuated from.

“We were able to help banks evacuate about N2 billion after two days, because many vaults had been damaged,” he said.

“The hoodlums were working as a team and systematically.

“In some instances, they even tore the whole ATM away to another location. If you can imagine how heavy an ATM is, then you can imagine the amount of effort it took them to do that.”