The premises of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), Area 11 Abuja was yesterday overtaken by people living with HIV/AIDS under the aegis of Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS(NEPWHAN), to protest the bank’s refusal to pay them.
The members who were numbering over 100 stormed the bank around 11 am,? aggrieved that the bank had earlier turned back some of its members by refusing to honour their cheques .
Some of the members said that they were suffering because of the refusal by the bank to honour their cheques for payment.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP, the FCT coordinator of NEPWHAN, John Okene, said that GTB was one of the banks that they operate their global fund account with.
He said that what caused the infraction was because the bank refused to pay transport and allowances to some of their members who came to Abuja for a meeting when they presented their cheques at the bank.
According to him, the bank had told his members that their account which is the corporate account of the association was frozen.
He said, “when we asked for the court order that mandated them to do that, the manager of the bank provided an application by a person to grant him a court injunction which the court has not granted, so they have no right to freeze our account”.
Okene alleged that there was a conspiracy between the bank and the removed former FCT Coordinator,? Peter Ikiti, to seize? the account of the association, adding that? both of them (Ikiti and GTB) had been trading with the money for two months now, while? dilly dallying with them whenever they ask for their money.
He lamented that his members were stranded, and had no funds to go back to their destinations.
Reacting to the story, the national president of NEPWHAN, Mr Edward Ogenyi , said that out of their several accounts with various banks, only GTB had refused to honour their cheques and had been playing them for over two months.
He pointed out that the bank had neither notified him nor informed him of this development but rather on their own decided to hold his members to ransom.
Some staff of the bank refused to comment, saying that they were not authorised to comment on the issue as only their corporate affairs department in Lagos can handle the matter.
As at press time, some officials of NEPWHAN and some security operative from the bank went to the police command to lodge a complaint.