Armed men numbering about 50 in the early hours of yesterday attacked Government House, Enugu.
The attack was however foiled by vigilant security personnel attached to the Government House.
Reacting to the incident, Chukwudi Achife, the chief press secretary to Governor Sulluvan Chime, said that the attack occurred at about 4:30am when a group of young men numbering about 50 and carrying machetes and cutlasses invaded the Government House and tried to force their way in.
Achife disclosed that the hoodlums were immediately engaged by the security personnel who shot dead one person and arrested three.
According to him, one of the security men attached to Government House was injured in the attack.
He added that the arrested people along with some of the weapons recovered (machetes) have since been handed over to the Enugu police command for further investigations.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY gathered that there was heavy shooting by the security operatives comprising policemen, men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and soldiers who succeeded in preventing the hoodlums from entering the Government House.
An eyewitness said several machetes were recovered from fleeing members of the gang. He added that the hoodlums arrived at the Government House in some buses.
The hoodlums were said to have parked their vehicles along the Nza Street and marched to the Government House gate where they met the security operatives.
The young men, LEADERSHIP further gathered, tied red bands similar to those of the “Bakassi Boys” and MASSOB operating in Onitsha and Aba, a development that forced many to describe them as MASSOB members.
They were said to have escaped the bullets fired by security operatives as they reportedly wore local bulletproofs popularly called “Odieshi” in Igbo.
As at the time of filling this report, the mission of the young men, who were armed with several machetes and flags with different inscriptions and insignia, was not known.
