The families of the five missing engineers employed by Nelan Consultants have levelled grave allegations against the Ebonyi State Police Command and former Ebonyi State Governor, now Minister of Works, David Umahi, accusing them of an alleged cover-up in the mysterious disappearance of the engineers through the refusal to conduct DNA profiling on skeletal remains purportedly recovered during investigations.
The grieving families alleged that despite repeatedly demanding scientific confirmation of the identities of the remains, the police continually declined to carry out DNA testing, claiming there was “no money” to fund the forensic exercise. They further alleged that the administration of former Governor Umahi also cited financial constraints, leaving the families without the answers they desperately sought.
Speaking on the matter, the families described the refusal to conduct DNA analysis as part of a deliberate effort to suppress the truth surrounding one of Nigeria’s most controversial unresolved disappearance cases.
According to them, the Ebonyi State Police Command presented five skeletal remains, insisting they belonged to the missing engineers who vanished in November 2021 while supervising the African Development Bank-funded Abakaliki Ring Road project.
The relatives, however, rejected the claim, insisting that no family could accept or bury the remains without irrefutable scientific proof. They disclosed that one of the skeletons presented by the police was headless, a development they said raised even more disturbing questions about the credibility of the police investigation.
Rather than provide forensic confirmation, the families alleged that the police repeatedly stalled the process with excuses, insisting there were no funds available to carry out DNA profiling.
After months of frustration and failed appeals, the families said they were compelled to raise funds independently to finance DNA testing in the United States.
They credited an independent pathologist, whom they described as a principled member of Opus Dei, with assisting them and refusing to compromise professional ethics despite mounting pressure.
According to the families, although the police eventually agreed to collect DNA samples after prolonged delays and negotiations, the samples were allegedly never subjected to any forensic examination.
The relatives maintained that they later concluded the authorities intentionally abandoned the exercise because they allegedly knew the skeletal remains did not belong to the missing engineers.
They further alleged that, without the intervention of the independent pathologist, they could have unknowingly buried unidentified individuals while believing they had laid their loved ones to rest.
The families also pointed to what they described as contradictory statements made by the officer in charge of the Anti-Kidnapping and Robbery Unit, Bruno Okonkwo, as further evidence that the investigation had been mishandled.
According to them, on February 13, 2026, the officer reportedly insisted that the skeletal remains recovered belonged to the missing engineers. However, they alleged that barely 24 hours later, during a telephone conversation with human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), the same officer claimed the remains had already been incinerated.
The conflicting accounts, they argued, raised troubling questions about why crucial evidence in an unresolved investigation would allegedly be destroyed before any scientific identification had been carried out.
Describing the matter as a stain on Nigeria’s justice system, the families lamented that they were forced to seek justice through independent experts abroad while the institutions constitutionally responsible for investigating the case allegedly failed to carry out basic forensic procedures.
They insisted that the disappearance of the five engineers transcends a single criminal investigation and has become a national test of accountability, transparency and the integrity of law enforcement agencies.
The families renewed their call for an independent investigation into both the disappearance of the engineers and the handling of the skeletal remains, insisting that the truth must prevail and that those responsible, if any wrongdoing is established, should be held accountable.
The missing engineers—Nelson Onyemeh, Stanley Nwazulum, Samuel Aneke, Ernest Edeani and Ikechukwu Ejiofor—disappeared in November 2021 while working on the Abakaliki Ring Road project in Ebonyi State. Previous reports have also contained allegations linking individuals associated with the former Ebonyi State administration to persons suspected of involvement in the disappearance. Those allegations remain unproven and have not been determined by any court.