From Chijioke Agwu, Abakaliki
Ebonyi state government has reacted to the kidnapping and murder of five construction workers working at the Effium section of the Abakaliki Ring road in Ohaukwu local government area of the state.
Five Nelan Consulting Firm workers were early last month kidnapped and later killed in Effium community while on survey of the phase four of the projects.
Following the incident ,there have some insinuations in some quarters alleging complicity of the state government on the incident.
But in a press conference in Abakaliki, Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Uchenna Orji,said the state government had no had in the unfortunate incident.
He described the insinuations as baseless and purely orchestrated to attack the intergrity of the goverment of Ebonyi state.
He said “it has become imperative to put the records straight on the allegations and misrepresentation of facts conveyed to the public from certain quarters over the unfortunate  incident that befell Engr. Nelson Onyeme of Nelan Consulting firm and other four Engineers whose services we suppose, were hired by Nelan Company to work in the phase two of the African Development Bank sponsored section of Abakaliki Ring Road Project as  they are not in the list of employees submitted to Ebonyi State Government by Nelan Consultants.
“Based on the Police Investigation report on the incident, we view as disheartening the unfortunate circumstances that led to the sad news. We therefore extend our heartfelt condolences to all the families and the Nelan Company for this dastardly act by criminal elements while hoping for a comprehensive crackdown on the perpetrators.
“However, we are constrained to correct certain impressions contained in the information dished out to  the public by Mrs. Nelson Onyeme as we know that she spoke out of emotions  and we believe that some politicians have  also taken advantage of her state of mind, otherwise there were things that she said against the State Government that were unnecessarily  misleading. We therefore cannot join issues with her.
“We are also compelled to set the records straight on the utterances of one of the Engineers of  Nelan Company,  Mr. Benjamin who speaks from both sides of the  mouth (telling the State Government one thing and telling the public another thing)  and who is extremely economical with the truth about our contractual relations with Nelan Company.
“It is heartbreaking and reprehensible that instead of dissipating energies and resources in pursuing the cause of justice for the victims, the likes of Mr.  Benjamin chose to divert attention by investing resources in media platforms to twist the matter for his personal aggrandizement. They even accused a siting Governor of having interest in one of the project vehicles. What an insult! The project vehicle was purchased with the resources of Ebonyi State and not even the resources of Africa Development Bank or that of the Consultant”