. . . Says disappearance of NELAN 5 engineers in Ebonyi without trace, baffling

A civil society group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has urged the Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Usmsn Alkali Baba and his Director-General of Department of State Services (DSS) counterpart, Alhaji Yusuf Magaji Bichi, to investigate if a secret Gas Chamber exists in Ebonyi State that would account for the disappearance five Engineers hired by the African Development Bank to construct a multi-million dollars road project in Ebonyi State nearly three months without trace.

HURIWA is accusing the Ebonyi State Police Command of incompetence, conspiracy and complicity to conceal facts relating to the disappearance of the five Engineers who went missing inexplicably but who were later to be suspiciously declared dead by the Ebonyi State government.

The rights group has asked that the Ebonyi State Information Commissioner, Orji Uchenna Orji, who allegedly issued a public statement on the missing engineers should be investigated so the law enforcement agencies can have additional intelligence that may assist them to determine what has happened to these five engineers whose families and children do not know their whereabouts since they travelled to work in Ebonyi State about three months now.

HURIWA said it was regrettable that the project the NELAN 5 were supervising was valued at $150 million and financed by the African Development Bank (AIDB), alleging that Ebonyi State government was unhappy that the engineers were all from outside Ebonyi State.

The group accused the state of hurriedly announcing “the deaths of the missing Engineers and the police which is the primary law enforcement agency has spectacularly failed or has colluded to hide the facts about these citizens of Nigeria who were abducted only for travelling to Ebonyi State to execute a lawful contract but met alleged antagonism from the Ebonyi State administration that was furious that Ebonyi people were not the ones carrying out the task.”

HURIWA suggested that the IGP should investigate Ebonyi state and check if they operate gas chamber. “How come for almost three months, the Police have come up with nothing except for the Ebonyi State government, acting as their mouth piece, announcing the death and burial of the five engineers?, the group queired, adding that the police should also check the Ebonyi Commissioner for Information on how he knew about the “wrong route.”

HURIWA recalled that the House of Representatives had urged the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali to thoroughly investigate the disappearance of the five consultant engineers known as NELAN 5, abducted in Ebonyi State. The resolution came on the heels of a motion titled “Call for Urgent Investigation into the Abduction of Five Consultant Engineers in Effium, Ohaukwu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State” presented by Hon. Ifeanyi Chudy Momah representing Ihiala federal constituency of Anambra State at the plenary.

“HURIWA said it is giving the IGP a week to activate mechanism towards telling Nigerians where the five Engineers that disappeared in Ebonyi State are and why the Ebonyi Police Command has failed to transparently disclose to Nigerians what the police has found out or the Rights group will Institute a legal matter to obtain an order of mandates to compel the police to act in line with their constitutional mandates,” the statement issued by the group, read in part.