A woman, who mysteriously lost her money after making a withdrawal from the bank in Jos last Wednesday is disputing what she received from the cashier and demanding fresh payment.

Mrs Justina Andrew, a confidential secretary with Plateau Teachers’ Commission, claimed that N657,000 that she withdrew from the bank turned into a big stone shortly after she left the banking hall.

“Diamond Bank has to give me my money because I have not gone far from the bank when I discovered that what they gave me was a big stone and not money,’’ Andrew said.

She claimed that the money was sent by her son, Murgak, for his ongoing building project but that on withdrawing the money she turned to a shop beside the bank to buy a wrapper in company of her two daughters-in-law.

She claimed Murgak had instructed her to buy any good wrapper of her choice with part of the money.

“It was at the point of paying for the wrapper that we discovered the mystery. We immediately rushed back to the bank and confronted the cashier that paid the money to me.

“To our surprise, the cashier said he knew nothing about what I was saying. I repeated myself but he told me that there was nothing he could do about it,” Andrew said.

She demanded to see the branch manager of the bank but was told he was not available.

She said that when she went back to the bank on Thursday, she was told that the manager was not yet available.

“I am taking up the matter to the police because the bank seems not to be keen at hearing my plight and predicament, “ she threatened.

“My daughters-in-law were with me when I withdrew the money. It was even one of them that was carrying the money while I led the way to the shop,’’ she said.

She claimed that when the incident happened, she and her daughters-in-law were left with nothing on them, adding that “it was a Good Samaritan that gave us transport fare to go home.“

In his reaction, Mr. Nnamdi Chime, the Branch Manager of Diamond Bank, dismissed the claim, saying, “what we pay is money and not stones.

“If the woman had a problem outside the bank after the withdrawal, it is none of our business.

“Thank God she testified to the fact that she was paid her money but for her to come back with that kind of story is not fair, particularly to the corporate image of our bank.”

Chime advised the public to be careful whenever they made bank withdrawals so as not to allow miscreants to take advantage of them.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Abuh, said that the incident had not been reported to the police command.

“As I am talking to you now, no such report has reached my office, except she reported it to the ‘C‘ Division at the City Centre, Terminus, “ Abuh said.

Reports say that Andrew’s case is the second after the one that involved St. Mary’s Parish, Hwolshe, Jos when the church cashier brought money to another commercial bank and it allegedly turned into bundles of papers before she deposited it.