Protest rocked in Abeokuta, Ogun state, as aggrieved youths have taken to the street on Tuesday to protest against the Naira.

Amidst  the hike and scarcity in petroleum products, Nigerians have been facing untold hardships as to the collection of the new Naira despite the Central Bank of Nigeria extension of the deadline.

Recall that last week, protests broke out in some parts of Ibadan in Oyo State over scarcity of the new notes, leading to an attack on the office of the governor.

The protest was reported to have started at Asero, Abeokuta on Tuesday by some dissatisfied customers of GTBank over their inability to get the new Naira notes from the bank.

The protesters who made bonfires blocked the road leading to Adatan and Osiele-Ibadan during the protest.

The protest also escalated and spread to Adatan, Sapon, Oke-Ilewo, Lafenwa among others.

The state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, hurriedly raced to the scene to calm the situation which forced the bank officials to suspend their service.

Punch gathered that simultaneous reactions occurred as another set of aggrieved youths went to Sapon, Lafenwa, Adatan, Gbonagun Obantoko and protested.

A  bank in Sapon abruptly terminated its service to avoid being attacked while banks at Oke-Ilewo and Panseke also closed their offices before the angry youths pounced on them.

Some banks’ staff at Oke-Ilewo and Panseke were seen rushing out of the premises and left.

The youths later arrived at Oke-Ilewo and destroyed all political materials hanging on the street lights. The youths who moved on motorcycles also blocked the Lalubu road during the protest, halting the free flow of vehicular movements.

They made bonfires in other places while policemen were nowhere to be found until after the angry youths had left the scene.

Also, some protesters stormed a branch of First Bank at  Lafenwa, Abeokuta and destroyed the Automobile Teller Machine in the bank.

Schools were also reportedly closed following the confusion while a secondary school at Gbonagun, Obantoko was reportedly attacked.

A teacher at the school who plead anonymity said a  tear gas canister was thrown into the school compound and unfortunately hit one of the pupils, who was rushed to the hospital.

 She said the teachers had to hurriedly evacuate the pupils to a safer place

However, the police spokesperson in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the police were monitoring the situation.

“We are monitoring the situation and we have warned them to ensure that properties are not destroyed because we have noticed that people who do not even have money in their accounts are the ones leading the riot, so if anybody destroys any property, the person will be decisively dealt with,” he said.

On Monday, Governor of Ogun state, Dapo Abiodun met with the bankers forum in the state to chart a way out of the hardship caused by the Naira shortage.

The governor also appealed to the youth not to escalate the problem by engaging in a destructive protest over the situation.

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