Wives and relatives of five engineers kidnapped while working on a road project in Ebonyi State staged a protest on Monday at the Federal Ministry of Works in Abuja, demanding information about the fate of their husbands nearly four years after the abduction.

The protesters, joined by several civil society groups, accused authorities of prolonged silence and a lack of accountability over the whereabouts of the engineers who were abducted in November 2021.

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

The road project, designed to ease traffic congestion and improve connectivity within the Ebonyi State capital, was funded by the African Development Bank as part of broader efforts to expand infrastructure and stimulate economic development in the region.

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

The abduction occurred during a period of rising insecurity in parts of the South-East, when attacks on contractors, public infrastructure and government facilities were becoming increasingly frequent.

For the affected families, the disappearance of the engineers has remained a painful ordeal marked by years of uncertainty and unanswered questions.

During the protest, the women carried placards calling on the Federal Government and relevant security agencies to intervene and ensure justice for the victims.

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

She said her husband left home for work in October 2021 when she was two months pregnant and has not been seen since.

According to her, the family has neither received information about his whereabouts nor confirmation of his death.

Also speaking, the mother of another missing engineer, Stanley Nwazulum, described the emotional and financial hardship the family has faced since her son’s disappearance.

She said the 33-year-old engineer was responsible for supporting her medical needs and the family has been left in distress since the incident.

The protesters said repeated efforts by families to obtain updates from relevant authorities had produced little response over the years.

Civil society organisations present at the protest also called for greater transparency and urged authorities to pursue investigations into the abduction more diligently.

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

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

Muhammad advised the families to pursue the issue through appropriate legal and administrative channels in the state.

Despite the ministry’s response, the protesters insisted that the Federal Government should intervene, arguing that the project involved public infrastructure and international funding.

The engineers were abducted during a period when kidnapping incidents were rising sharply across Nigeria.

Data from the Nigeria Security Tracker show that at least 2,944 people were abducted across the country between January and June 2021, highlighting the scale of the security crisis during the period.