Previously detained in relation to the fire incident at the Rivers State House of Assembly, four individuals have made new accusations, alleging they were under pressure to change their initial statements in order to implicate Edison Ehie, the Chief of Staff to Siminalayi Fubara, the suspended governor of Rivers State.
They said that a former local government chairman had offered them a bribe of ₦200 million and a move abroad in exchange for their participation.
Following about six months at Kuje Correctional Facility, Chime Ezebalike, Kenneth Kpasa, Oladele Lukman, and MacPherson Olumini were cleared of the charges in November of last year.
Ezebalike stated during a news conference in Port Harcourt on Monday that a well-known PDP leader in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area had recently approached them to change their story.
During the press briefing, three of the four suspects who were found not guilty agreed to be filmed.
They said the request was part of a larger political plot to support statements made by former Head of Service George Nwaeke during a press briefing 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,” he said.
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They said the crime for which they were framed and now want them to rope Edison includes 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 described their terrifying six-month odyssey, which started in December 2023, while they were under the control of political leaders and security personnel.
They described being incarcerated at the Federal Intelligence Response Team (F-IRT) facility in Port Harcourt while allegedly blindfolded after being seized under alleged suspicious circumstances, starting with Oladele on December 5, 2023, followed by Chime and MacPherson on December 16, and Kenneth on January 5.
They said there, they were allegedly 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 weaponisation of state institutions against innocent citizens.”
