By ERICJAMES OCHIGBO

Wives of the five engineers abducted in 2021 while working on the Abakaliki Ring Road project in Ebonyi have called on President Bola Tinubu to compel security agencies to find their missing husbands.

The spouses made the call in a petition filed by their solicitors, CNO Attorneys, to Tinubu, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.

The women also copied Gov. Charles Soludo of Anambra, Gov. Peter Mbah of Enugu State and all National Assembly members from Enugu State as well as the Executive Secretary of National Human Rights Commission.

They prayed the president and leadership of the National Assembly to compel the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police to produce the missing NELAN Construction Ltd. workers.

The women identified themselves as Mrs Patricia Onyemeh, Mrs Lovett Edeani, Mrs Ifeoma Ejiofor, Mrs Esther Aneke and Mrs Nwazulum.

According to them, their missing husbands are Nelson Onyemeh, Lead Consultant/CEO, from Ihiala in Anambra; Ernest Edeani, from Nkanu in Enugu State; Ikechukwu Ejiofor, from Umunya in Anambra; Samuel Aneke, from Nkanu in Enugu State and Stanley Nwazulum, from Amawbia, Anambra.

The petitioners said that it had been reported in some quarters that the workers have been long killed and buried in the bush.

In the petition, the women alleged that the incident occurred in Effium community of Ebonyi, amid intense clashes between the lead consultant and some local vested interests regarding who manages the African Development Bank-sponsored project.

“Our clients lament helplessly that till date, nothing meaningful has been heard about the whereabouts of the victims who are husbands, fathers and breadwinners in their respective families.

“Instead, innumerable intrigues and conspiracies, including a sudden alleged unlawful dismissal of the investigation officer of the Department of State Services (DSS) without a letter of dismissal, alongside confiscation of his laptop by the security service at the peak of the investigation.

“The perpetrators of these heinous crimes against humanity have not been brought to justice, which is an affront to Section 14(2)(b) of the Constitution, which makes security of the people a priority and primary purpose of government.

“We, therefore, request the petitioned leaders to use their good offices to bring the perpetrators to book without further delay,” the petition read.

They prayed that the culprits should not be allowed to escape justice or be shielded from prosecution, no matter how highly-placed they may be.

“We believe that this option is far preferable to that one that compels the traumatised families, by government’s inaction, to take to the streets in protests over their loved ones missing since November 2021 without any meaningful action from the government.

“Your excellencies, you need to ponder on the psychological trauma and endless lies to the kids about the whereabouts of their fathers,” they added.

The petitioners reminded the government of its statutory duty to protect lives and property, and fervently advise it to come to the aid of ‘these depressed, dejected and deprived families’ before it is too late.

“Government should consider the trauma and predicament they have been subjected to in the past five years without their loved ones and without an atom of hope, thereby making their lives miserable and meaningless.

“We have a clear mandate of our clients to demand a full-scale investigation by the Federal Government and its agencies to unravel the whereabouts of the five missing engineers,” the petition stated.

The families, however, said that they might be forced to embark on endless serious demonstrations if their demands were not met. (NAN)