Gunmen numbering 20 in the wee hours of Tuesday attacked the country home of former President Goodluck Jonathan in Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area killing one soldier and injuring another.
The gunmen according to investigation had thrown dynamite into the compound before they invaded it from the water side at about 2am shortly after Jonathan left to sleep in his house in Yenagoa.
Eye-witness account said after they threw the dynamite into the compound the gunmen approached the house from the waterside at the back and went for the gun at the gunboat but unfortunately the gun was not mounted.
It was then two soldiers stationed at the back sighted them and a heavy shoot-out commenced with the gunmen.
The eye-witness account said if not for the timely intervention of the other soldiers that were coming to the back of the house with the Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), the gunmen would have entered the compound and kill everybody inside.
“The gunmen opened fire on the soldiers and the soldiers replied. It was a heavy shootout. The Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) positioned in from of the house, made a u-turn blaring siren to join his men behind the house. The soldiers while engaging the gunmen at the back of the house were not aware some gunmen were coming into the house on land. Those gunmen on foot shot dead a soldier and shot another in the leg. The gunmen, escaped after sighting the APC moving to reinforce the soldiers. The gunmen abandoned a boat filled with blood. The gunmen suffered heavy causalities because at the jetty blood was everywhere and some watching from inside the house saw the gunmen moving some bodies of their colleagues into another boat.”
Many residents of Otuoke who were thrown into panic commended the soldiers for their gallantry at repelling the attack from the gunmen.
Jonathan who was at the scene with Commander of the 3rd Brigade, Elele and the Bayelsa Commissioner of Police was shocked at the incident and motive behind it.
The Operation Delta Safe, Joint Task Force is working to issue a statement on the incident.
Source: The Sun
