Families Protest in Abuja Over Five Kidnapped Ebonyi Engineers
Edino Chubiyo Cornelius 
ABUJA, Nigeria – Families of five engineers abducted nearly four years ago in Ebonyi State stage a protest in Abuja on Monday, demanding answers about the fate of their missing relatives.
The demonstrators gather outside the Federal Ministry of Works, urging authorities to intensify investigations into the disappearance of the engineers.
The victims — Nelson Onyemeh, Ernest Edeani, Ikechukwu Ejiofor, Samuel Aneke and Stanley Nwazulum — were employees of NELAN Construction Limited working on the Abakaliki Ring Road project when gunmen abducted them in November 2021.
Wives and relatives, supported by civil society groups, hold placards calling on the government to disclose what progress has been made in the case.
Speaking during the protest, Esther Aneke, wife of kidnapped engineer Samuel Aneke, appeals for urgent government intervention.
“My husband travelled from Adamawa to Ebonyi for the project while I was pregnant,” she says. “Since that day, we have not heard from him.”
Another protester, the mother of Stanley Nwazulum, says her son’s disappearance has caused deep hardship for the family.
“He supported my medical treatment before he went missing,” she says. “We need answers about what happened to him.”
The engineers were supervising construction on the Abakaliki Ring Road, a major infrastructure project intended to ease traffic congestion in the state capital.
Responding to the protest, Ahmad Muhammad, Director of Human Resources at the Federal Ministry of Works, says the matter is currently before a court.
He advises protesters to ensure their actions do not interfere with ongoing legal proceedings.
Despite the response, families insist federal authorities must become more involved, arguing that the engineers were working on a public infrastructure project when they were abducted.
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