Presidency confirms ‘foolish attempt’ to rob Gambari’s residence

THE Presidency has confirmed a robbery attempt at the official residence of the President’s Chief of Staff (CoS), Professor Ibrahim Gambari, around the presidential villa in Abuja.

It was gathered that the robbers attempted to break into the house in the early hours of yesterday, but were apparently unsuccessful.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Shehu, in a statement yesterday said:

“The Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari has confirmed that there ‘was a foolish attempt’ to burgle his residence at 3:00am this morning but it turned out to be unsuccessful.

“Professor Gambari, whose house is on a street next to the Villa has assured that there is nothing to worry about from the incident.”

A report had surfaced late afternoon yesterday that armed men suspected to be robbers raided Gambari’s residence.

It claimed that the robbers also raided the residence of the CoS’ Admin Officer, Abubakar Maikano.

“The incident on May 9 prompted Gambari and Maikano, the chief of staff and admin officer, respectively, to abandon their residences, sources said.

“Their houses were robbed and the robbers packed money and other valuable assets from both houses,” read the report.

But the statement from the Presidency does not include any of such occurrences, as it insists that it was only an attempt.

The Presidency however did not disclose whether or not the robbers escaped or were arrested following the incident.