March 01, (THEWILL) – The indigenous people of Effium autonomous community on Monday, called on the Ebonyi State Commissioner of Police, Garba Aliyu, to announce to the world in the next 24 hours those culpable in the missing and eventual death of the five NELAN contractors handling the Effium axis of the ring road.
The call was contained in a statement released to journalists in Abakaliki and signed by Messer Godwin Ogaba and Isih Martins, who are Chairman and Secretary respectively of Effium Indigenous Vanguard.
According to them, there have been accusations and counter-accusations of whether it was the indigenous people of Effium autonomous community that murdered the five contractors or the Ezza residents in Effium.
The statement read, “After the NELAN-5 consultants got missing at a village inhabited by Ezzas, after November 3, 2021, we accused the Ezzas and their warriors of being behind it, but they denied it. And we have it on good authority that the police have exhumed the remains of the contractors since February 19 and know those behind the killings.
“When on November 28, 2021, the security team that was investigating the NELAN-5 missing was attacked and four of them killed, we accused the Ezzas and Chinedu Awo of being behind it, they denied again. But today, we have been vindicated.
“The police, if it has not compromised on this matter, should tell the world through a world press conference the role of Chinedu Awo and Ezza stakeholder in the death of the five NELAN contractors.
“When Rev. Fr. Timothy Ngwuta (an Ezza Catholic priest of Abakaliki Diocese), was arrested by the Ebonyi State Police Command over his involvement in the recovery of one of the hilux vehicles used to attack the police on 28th November, we cried out how top Ezza stakeholders in government connived with the Rev. Fr. to do that dirty job.
“Ezzas denied it and they pressured the state government to order the release of Fr. Ngwuta, leaving behind, two others who accompanied him, Chukwuka Nwali and Moses Umanyi in custody.
“We also call on the Catholic Bishop of Abakaliki, Bishop Peter Nworie Chukwu, to swiftly investigate the complicity of Rev. Fr. Timothy Ngwuta, in the killings of the five contractors. Otherwise, it would be glaring how the whole Ezza connived to cut the lives of the engineers in their prime”, the statement read.
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Sunday Ogbu is a professional journalist with eight - twelve years experience that had worked with various print and online media. Sunday specializes in news reporting with the aim of educating his readers on current social, political and economic occurences within his area of coverage. Sunday is a strong force to work with in the media industry and uses his positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Sunday is inspired daily by his wife and their four children. In his free time, Sunday likes sight-seeing, reading and discussing issues of societal interest.
