A customer at the Ibadan Ring Road branch of Stanbic IBTC Bank in Oyo State on Tuesday, created a scene inside the banking hall, protesting the alleged freezing of his account over the non-provision of his Tax Identification Number (TIN).
The customer, Mr Oluwarotimi Fadoju, who claimed to be a London-trained police officer, was seen shouting on top of his voice, which temporarily disrupted activities in the banking hall, reports a correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who was in the banking hall, while the drama lasted.
NAN reports that the bank’s security personnel disallowed other customers from entering for over four hours that the aggrieved customer was seen fuming, shouting as the bank workers could not immediately find a solution to his complaints.
Mr Fadoju told NAN that he was made to understand that his account was frozen because of TIN certificate, which he said was already in the custody of the bank.
The customer further complained that he had been in the banking hall for over four hours without being attended to.
In spite of pleading by other customers to calm him, Mr Fadoju insisted that he would not leave the banking hall unless his account was activated and he gets access to his money.
Mr Fadoju, who lamented that his daughter would get married on Saturday, said he was denied access to his “hard-earned money” to purchase all the needed items for the ceremony.
According to him, I am supposed to be in Abeokuta by now, but unable to go because I could not access the money in my account.
Mr Fadoju further demanded that his account in the bank should be closed, because of the sufferings and alleged humiliations he had been subjected to by the bank.
“Put yourself in my shoes, my daughter is getting married on Saturday, and I am supposed to be in Abeokuta by now, since my account had been frozen I can’t go. The question now begging for answer is why was my account frozen?
“When I got to the bank around 9.00am, a lady who first attended to me asked if I have the soft copy of my TIN, and luckily I found it on my phone and gave her, she input it into her system.
“The same TIN certificate for which my account was blocked was printed out of their system, confirming to me that I opened my account at Dugbe branch in Ibadan.
“When I opened the account, I provided every document needed and that is why she was able to get the TIN from her system.
“When I ask her to close my account, she said it will take longer time to close my account than to resolve the issue of frozen of my account,” Mr Fadoju said.
The customer said he had been subjected to mental and physical torture, insisting that he would not leave the banking hall until he collected his money.
However, a female official of the bank, who pleaded anonymity, because she was not permitted to talk to the press, later came and apologised profusely to the aggrieved customer.
The official said she was in the office when a report came that an aggrieved customer was in the banking hall shouting in protest over the freezing of his account.
“Before I came down from my office upstairs, I was trying to find a solution to his complaints before I could meet him. This was the reason why I could not come out immediately to meet him because I know that no amount of pleading could pacify him unless the issue he raised is resolved.
“No responsible officer will hear that a customer is aggrieved and will just sit down without finding a way out of the issue,” the official said.
She assured the customer that the issue with his account had been rectified, adding that he could go and make his transaction.
