Four individuals who were arrested in connection with an arson attack on the Rivers State House of Assembly claimed they were bribed with N200m to implicate Edison Ehie, the Chief of Staff to the suspended Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara.
The men Chime Ezebalike, Kenneth Kpasa, Oladele Lukman, and MacPherson Olumini spent six months at the Kuje Correctional Centre before they were discharged and acquitted of the crime in November 2024. But according to them, they have been approached by some politicians in the State to rewrite their story in a wide criminal conspiracy to implicate innocent persons.
Speaking at a media briefing in Port Harcourt on Monday, Ezebalike said these politicians include a prominent Peoples Democratic Party leader in Obio/Akpor Local Government who wanted them to change their narrative to tally with claims made in a press briefing by former Head of Service, George Nwaeke, in Abuja.
“We were asked to rewrite our story and falsely name Edison Ehie as the mastermind of the Assembly fire. This is after everything we have been through. We cannot be part of any nefarious plot, especially not after the trauma we endured,” Ezebalike said.
The quartet said crime which they were framed and now want them to rope in Edison include the Assembly fire, the gruesome murder of Bako Angbashim, a DPO in the Ahaoda Area, and an alleged assassination attempt on the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martins Amaewhule.
They narrated their harrowing six-month ordeal in the hands of security agents and political figures, which began in December 2023.
They recounted being arrested under alleged dubious charges with the arrest of Oladele on December 5, 2023, Chime and MacPherson on December 16, and Kenneth on January 5. They were allegedly blindfolded and detained at the Federal Intelligence Response Team (F-IRT) facility in Port Harcourt. According to them they were tortured, denied legal access, and coerced to sign false confessions.
One particularly disturbing incident, they said, involved a serving member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, who visited them with a uniformed officer and pressured them to implicate Ehie. “When we refused, they turned to beatings and starvation,” they said.
They also accused a former Local Government Chairman of offering them bribes, including ₦200 million and overseas relocation for their cooperation.
These inducements were reportedly offered again during their detention in Abuja, to which some of them had been forcibly transferred.
In one case, they explained that a different detainee was allegedly promised his freedom if he identified Kenneth Kpasa as an arsonist.
After over six months in Kuje Correctional Facility, the matter was transferred to the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt where in November 2024, all charges were dropped.
Now free, they say it is time to speak out, not just for themselves but for other innocent citizens who may be suffering in silence.
“This country belongs to us all. No one should be tortured or forced to lie for political convenience. We call on civil society, the media, and all justice-loving Nigerians to rise and resist the weaponization of state institutions against innocent citizens.” With Channels TV report
