Activist and former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has brought renewed attention to the unresolved disappearance of five engineers in Ebonyi State, alleging that when the government was pressured to provide answers, remains were presented that were later proven through independent DNA testing not to belong to the missing men.
Sowore made the allegations during an appearance on Symfoni TV, where he directly linked the 2021 disappearance to the tenure of the current Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, who was serving as Governor of Ebonyi State at the time the engineers vanished.
According to Sowore, the five engineers were personnel of NELAN Consulting Engineers who disappeared in November 2021 while supervising the African Development Bank-funded Abakaliki Ring Road project in Ebonyi State. The men have been identified as Nelson Onyemeh, Ernest Edeani, Ikechukwu Ejiofor, Samuel Aneke, and Stanley Nwazulum. All five vanished under circumstances that have never been satisfactorily explained, and none of them have been found or confirmed dead through credible evidence.
Sowore alleged that after sustained pressure from the families and the public demanding answers about the fate of the engineers, the state government at the time produced what it claimed were the remains of the missing men. However, he said that when independent DNA tests were conducted on the remains, the results showed that the bones did not belong to any of the five missing engineers.
In his words, Sowore said, “Five engineers disappeared under his watch, and they have not been found. When they pressured him, he provided remains, bones of people they claim were these engineers, and when they did the DNA test, they found out that they were not the people who died.”
The case of the five missing engineers has remained one of the most disturbing unresolved incidents in recent Nigerian history. The men were professionals working on a legitimate government infrastructure project funded by an international development institution when they disappeared without a trace. Despite years of public outcry, petitions, and demands from the families, no one has been held accountable and no credible explanation has been provided for what happened to them.
The disappearance occurred during a period of significant construction activity in Ebonyi State under Umahi’s administration, which embarked on numerous road and infrastructure projects. The Abakaliki Ring Road project, which the engineers were supervising at the time of their disappearance, was one of several major road construction efforts in the state funded through international partnerships.
The families of the missing engineers have repeatedly called on the federal government and security agencies to launch a thorough and independent investigation into the disappearance. They have expressed frustration at what they describe as a deliberate cover-up and a lack of political will to uncover the truth about what happened to their loved ones.
Sowore’s decision to revisit the case publicly comes at a time when Umahi now occupies one of the most powerful positions in the federal government as the Minister of Works under President Bola Tinubu’s administration. Critics have questioned how someone with such serious unresolved allegations hanging over his tenure as governor could be appointed to a senior federal position without the matter being fully investigated and resolved….See More
Leave a Reply