Rotimi Morgan/
Heavily armed gunmen invaded the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Abuja in the early hours of today.
The target of the attack was a senior official of the commission leading the probe of top politicians and military chiefs in the immediate past administration, Mr. Ishaku Sharu.
Sharu also heads the commission’s Foreign Exchange Malpractices Fraud Section.
When the gunmen could not reach their target, they left a message in which they vowed to return for him.
EFCC’s head of media and publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the attack in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
The statement by the commission reads: “A major security breach was recorded at the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in the early hours of Wednesday, August 16, 2017 as unknown gunmen attacked the office located at Wuse Zone 7, Abuja.
“The group of heavily armed bandits invaded the office at about 05.00 hours and began shooting into the premises, damaging vehicles parked in the premises in the process. However, the attack was repelled by guards on duty.
“The hoodlums escaped in a getaway vehicle but not without leaving a message; a white envelope dropped by the fleeing attackers was found to contain a death threat addressed to Ishaku Sharu, a senior investigator with the Commission. Ishaku who heads the Foreign Exchange Malpractices Fraud Section is in charge of corruption investigation involving several politically exposed persons and retired military brass hats.
“The attack on the Zone 7 office which houses the Commission’s AMCON Desk, Procurement Fraud and Foreign Exchange Malpractices Sections, is coming few weeks after another investigator, Austin Okwor was shot and wounded by unknown assailants in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The latest incident has already been reported to the police for investigation.”
A bullet hole on one of the vehicles parked in the premises 