by Akan Ido

Fred Udeogu, the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Grants and Donor Agencies yesterday escaped assassination by unknown assailants at his hometown in Ikwo local government area of the state.

The commissioner is reported to be a close associate of the governor, Martin Elechi, since the inception of the present administration in 2007.

Sources say the assailants laid ambush for Udeogu while he was returning from the burial of the grandmother of Senator Igwe Nwagu’s wife.

They were said to have blocked Opera Road at Ndiagu Achara community in Ikwo LGA council in order to unleash mayhem on their victim but failed.

Reports say a policeman in the company of the convoy opened fire when miscreants who carried dangerous weapons like machetes and cudgels intercepted the commissioner’s  convoy.

The police spokesman, DSP Sylvester Igbo, however, refrained from calling it an assassination attempt saying it might just be a mere political misunderstanding.