Unknown heavily armed gunmen had, on Tuesday, stormed the site of the Ebonyi State International Airport.
ElombahNews gathered that the heavily armed gunmen came on two vehicles and several motorcycles.
A source in the Ebonyi State Government, who spoke to this medium on condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident but debunked the story that the attackers targeted the State governor, Engr. Dave Umahi for assassination.
According to some news sources, the gunmen had stormed the site of the proposed Ebonyi International Airport that the Ebonyi State Governor was billed to visit for inspection of ongoing work.
The source claimed that Governor Umahi for some inexplicable reasons, however, failed to show up when the gunmen struck.
The report added that on getting to the site, they opened fire but but missed hitting the Commissioner for Infrastructure Development, Engr Fidelis Nweze.
It noted further that Nweze had suspected the movement of the would be attackers and had ran to the nearby bush for cover, leaving behind his SUV Jeep.
“The gunmen then broke into the SUV and made away with the Commissioner’s laptop, architectural plan documents and money. They shot repeatedly on the air and took over the site for some time waiting for the arrival of the governor,” the news source said.
Our source, meanwhile confirmed the attack but noted that neither the governor nor the commissioner was the target.
The source stated that the white men working as contractors at the site were the targets but that they were not on site during the attack.
The source also confirmed that the armed men, upon leaving the scene, invaded a nearby commercial bank at Onueke, close to Ezaa South Local Government Area headquarters, but left without robbing the bank.
Ebonyi State has been in the news recently following recurrent attack by suspected Fulani herdsmen that left scores dead and properties worth hundreds of millions destroyed.