There was pandemonium at the premises of the Central Bank of Nigeria, along Udo Udoma Avenue, Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom State, as police operatives reportedly fired several canisters of teargas on hundreds of people, mainly depositors, who thronged the bank to deposit their old naira notes.
People were seen scampering for safety during the incident as a good number of them came from other local government areas since there is only one CBN branch in the state.
Prior to the incident, frustrated and angry youths were alleged to have planned to raze down a bank opposite the CBN branch.
A bank official who pleaded anonymity told Daily Post that immediately after the plan leaked, the crowd was ordered to vacate the premises and go home to avoid casualty.
Police officers, whose timely arrival forestalled the plan, did not waste time in dispersing the crowd with tear gas.
Akwa Ibom Police Public Relations Officer, Odiko Macdon, when contacted confirmed the incident. He claimed that the police intervened when the crowd was becoming riotous but he denied the use of teargas by the law enforcement agents.
According to Macdon: “Today, there was a large crowd at the CBN vicinity and the crowd was becoming rowdy and almost becoming riotous. So, the police as an agency saddled with the responsibility of maintaining law and order cannot fold their arms and allow a breakdown of law and order. So the Commissioner of Police, CP Olatoye Durosinmi, in his wisdom, deployed officers to restore law and order, and that is exactly what happened. Nobody was harassed, or molested; nothing untoward happened.”
On whether teargas was used, Odiko said: “I don’t have any confirmation of teargas being released; teargas is used to disperse crowd that is becoming riotous, but I’m not saying that teargas was used.”
In the meantime, filling stations, pharmacies, supermarkets and even transporters have stopped collecting old naira notes from customers in Akwa Ibom State.
