A man identified Sodirudeen Rufai, a guy, was taken into custody after he tried to set fire to the Guaranty Trust Bank building on Tuesday in the Oke-Ilewo Area of Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Gistlover learned that the suspect said he chose to destroy the bank after repeatedly complaining to the bank that an unauthorized N500,000 had been taken out of his account, but his complaints went unanswered.
After reporting the issue, our correspondent further learned that the Area Commander, Abeokuta, allegedly told him to let the bank handle its own protocol in order to determine the reason for the deduction.
Still, Gistlover discovered that things worsened when the bank informed him that he had been duped.
After receiving the news from bank official, our correspondent was informed that Rufai allegedly returned to the bank with gasoline and started tossing it throughout the banking hall.
Some patrons fled the scene in fear as the drama played out, but other patrons and the bank security personnel dragged Rufai to the ground before he could use the lighter in his hand.
According to information obtained by PUNCH Metro, Godwin James, the bank’s chief security officer, gave the suspect over to the Ibara Police Division.
Meanwhile, it was reported that the suspect stated during questioning that he acted to alert the relevant authorities to the bank’s mishandling of his funds.
Speaking with our correspondent on Wednesday, the state police Public Relations Officer, Omolola Odutola, said Rufai would be charged with attempted suicide and murder.
Odutola said, “He was fighting a noble cause in an ignoble way. He has a right to make a complaint that his money is missing. But the way he went about it was wrong. We are going to hold him for an attempt to commit suicide with murder because if he had succeeded, he would have killed himself and every other person in the bank.”
