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Two former ministers, Gen. David Jemibewon (retd) and Alhaji Isa Yuguda escaped death by the whiskers, when their Abuja homes were stormed by gunmen on Sunday morning.
Two former ministers, Gen. David Jemibewon (retd) and Alhaji Isa Yuguda escaped death by the whiskers, when their Abuja homes were stormed by gunmen on Sunday morning.
Luck was on the side of Jemibewon, former Police Affairs minister and his Aviation counterpart, Yuguda, who is a gubernatorial aspirant in Bauchi State, as combined police patrol teams were on hand to save them, after engaging the gunmen suspected to be assassins in gun duel which lasted 30 minutes each in their respective houses.
Commissioner of Police, Abuja Command, Mr. Lawrence Alobi confirmed the two incidents and said investigations had begun in earnest, while thanking God that the wish of the enemies did not triumph over the police, who repelled the aggression of the gunmen.
Alobi however said no arrest has been made.
Daily Sun gathered on Sunday that first to be attacked was Alhaji Yuguda when as early as 7:30 am a gang of 10 gunmen stormed his house at the high brow Wuse 11 in Abuja and pumped several bullets into the house.
Though, Yuguda escaped the assassins' bullets but one of the mobile policemen attached to him was not so lucky as the gang reportedly smashed his forehead, leaving the politician's house with several bullet holes.
Eyewitness account said the gunmen arrived the former minister's house in an ash-colour Mercedes Benz car and a Honda Prelude car and on arriving the house located at 17, Togo Street in Wuse II district, some member of gang then went for one of the guards on duty who was outside the house washing his motorcycle.
Commissioner of Police in charge of the Federal Capital Territory , Mr. Laurence Alobi, who confirmed the attack, told Daily Sun that he had directed that security be beefed up around Yuguda's house and ordered a man-hunt for the assailants.
According to one of the guards, 'One of the men removed his pistol and pointed it at me. As they pushed me inside, they asked me: ‘Where is your oga?' I refused to tell them and they started dragging me with the pistol. He then used his pistol to hit my forehead. Some were at the gate with AK47 (rifle)."
'As they saw one of our cleaners coming out of the security post to see what was happening, one of the gunmen fired (pointing into some fresh bullet holes in the building). Another one shot at the gate (pointing to another bullet hole), then one of my colleagues, a mobile policeman attached to Oga responded with gunshot. When they realised that there was some other persons with a rifle inside, they quickly ran away."
Speaking to newsmen, Yuguda, who looked disturbed in the midst of his family members, explained that he returned from the lesser Hajj via a Lufthansa flight on Saturday, and was still resting upstairs when he heard gunshots from nowhere.
He said he was so curious since, it was just 7.30 on Sunday morning, adding 'I know there have been threats to my life, in fact, an attempt was made last November.
The attempt on the life of the politician came less than nine months after he raised an alarm that his life was under threat from some unknown men who sent text messages and phoned him that his time would soon be up.
He explained: 'There was this threat message on my mobile phone, which I reported to the police authorities. Now, I have seen in reality that they can indeed carry out their threat," adding that he was convinced that the attack was politically motivated but however stressed that such attacks would not deter him from the governorship race, since, in his words, 'it is worth the sacrifice."
Police Commissioner Alobi who visited the scene at about 9:00 am disclosed that four expended shells, were recovered from the former minister's house and that he had ordered a round-the-clock police protection.
Meanwhile as the police boss was inspecting Yuguda's house, elsewhere in Maitaima, Abuja house of Gen Jemibewon, another five-man group of suspected assassins armed with sophisticated weapons was operating during which they wounded the former minister's younger brother.
Sources revealed that the assassins stormed the ex-minister's home at about 9 :00 am and began sporadic shooting in an attempt to gain entry when a police team was alerted.
Sources said that the armed men were about getting in when the police team arrived and moved into action to repel them. However, they injured one of Jemibewon's brothers who was around during the attack.
Mr. Alobi also confirmed that the ex-minister's brother was injured in the attack and that no arrest had been made as at press time. He pointed out that the gunmen did not steal anything in the two operations reinforcing the belief that they were hired assassins.