Some staff of former Intercontinental Bank in the South West Zone were on Saturday served with letters terminating their appointments in Ibadan, Oyo State, by the management of Access Bank Plc which had taken over the operations of the former bank through a merger. Similar operation was reported to have been carried out in Lagos State on Friday.

Sunday Tribune,  which was at the premises of Development Support Centre, Iyaganku GRA, Ibadan, where the appointment termination  letters of the disengaged staff were handed over to them, learnt from some of the staff that text messages were sent to their mobile phones at about 2a.m. same day, inviting them to a meeting with Access Bank officials.

The staff however said that they were surprised that instead of holding any meeting, their names were called and letters which had already been prepared were handed over to them, with the heading “Termination of Appointment”.

One of the sacked banker, who craved anonymity, told Sunday Tribune that though some of them saw the sack coming, especially with the closure of about 200 branches of the bank, they had expected the letter to read ‘disengagement’ rather than ‘termination of appointment.’

“Though some of us have signed the receipt of the letter, others have refused to do so as they are trying to find a common front to reject the tone of the letter and to make sure all our entitlements, including our gratuities, are paid.  Some of us however see the action as heartless and inhuman”, the banker added.

A  staff, Mr Oyedeji Onaolapo, who, however, saw his sack in another perspective, told Sunday Tribune that “being an employee is like being in a bondage because you’ll be trying to actualise someone else’s dream. I’m now free to go into other challenges. This termination is a blessing in disguise as I don’t see myself fitting into the new arrangement being put up by the new management.”

Also, Mr Wole Olayinka, took the sack in good faith as he said it would enable him to plan for his future in a better way.

He however disagreed with the tone of the letter, saying that instead of terminating their appointments, they should have been asked to resign.

Meanwhile, Sunday Tribune gathered that those who were being retained by Access Bank were invited to Femi Johnson Broking House at Dugbe area of the city, where they were given fresh letters of appointment