Wives and relatives of five engineers abducted in November 2021 while working on the Abakaliki Ring Road project in Ebonyi State on Monday protested at the Federal Ministry of Works in Abuja, demanding information about the fate of their husbands nearly four years after the incident.

The protesters, supported by several civil society organisations, decried what they described as prolonged silence and lack of accountability from authorities regarding the whereabouts of the engineers.

The missing engineers — Nelson Onyemeh, Ernest Edeani, Ikechukwu Ejiofor, Samuel Aneke and Stanley Nwazulum — were employees of NELAN Construction Limited and were reportedly kidnapped by gunmen while supervising construction work on the Abakaliki Ring Road.

The project, aimed at easing traffic congestion and improving connectivity within the Ebonyi State capital, was funded by the African Development Bank as part of efforts to expand infrastructure and stimulate economic growth in the region.

At the time of the incident, the state was under the administration of former governor Dave Umahi, who now serves as the Minister of Works under the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

The abduction occurred amid rising security concerns in parts of the South-East, where attacks on public infrastructure, contractors and government facilities had become frequent.

For the affected families, however, the issue has become a painful personal ordeal marked by years of uncertainty.

During Monday’s protest in Abuja, the women carried placards urging the Federal Government and relevant authorities to intervene and ensure justice for the victims.

Speaking during the protest, Esther Aneke, wife of one of the abducted engineers, Samuel Aneke, appealed to the government to help locate her husband or clarify his fate.

“My name is Mrs Esther Aneke. I am the wife of engineer Samuel Chibike Aneke who went to work. He left me in Adamawa on October 30, 2021, for Ebonyi. At the time I was two months and two weeks pregnant. Since then, I have not seen him and I have not even seen his corpse.

“Please, I am asking for justice. Wherever my husband is, they should release him,” she said.

Also speaking, the mother of another missing engineer, Stanley Nwazulum, lamented the impact of her son’s disappearance on the family.

“My son is the youngest among the engineers. He was just 33 years old and he used to take care of my hospital bills. Since 2021, I have not seen him and I do not know where he is. I need justice for my son. I want the government to tell me where my son is,” she said.

The protesters said repeated efforts by the families to obtain updates from relevant authorities had yielded little or no response.

Civil society groups present at the protest also called for transparency and urged authorities to ensure that investigations into the abduction are pursued diligently.

Responding on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Works, the Director of Human Resources, Ahmad Muhammad, said the matter is already before a court of law.

He added that the incident occurred within Ebonyi State and therefore falls primarily under the jurisdiction of the state government.

“I think this has to be addressed in Ebonyi, not in this office. This is a federal government office and the matter is already in court. When a matter is in court, nobody has the right to interfere,” he said.

Muhammad also advised the protesters to follow due process and liaise with the appropriate authorities in Ebonyi State.

Despite the ministry’s position, the families insisted that the Federal Government should intervene, noting that the road project involved public infrastructure and international financing.

The engineers were abducted at a time when kidnapping incidents were on the rise across the country.

Security reports indicate that 2021 recorded one of the highest levels of kidnapping nationwide.

Data from the Nigeria Security Tracker showed that at least 2,944 people were abducted across Nigeria between January and June 2021 alone, underscoring the scale of the security challenge during the period. (The Nation)