Four persons arrested in connection with the 2023 fire that razed the Rivers State House of Assembly complex have alleged they are being pressured to implicate Edison Ehie, Chief of Staff to suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Gatekeepers News reports that Chime Ezebalike, Kenneth Kpasa, MacPherson Olumini, and Oladele Lukman, in November 2024, were acquitted of the charges after spending months in Kuje Correctional Facility.
During a press conference held on Monday, three of the four acquitted suspects stated that they have recently been approached by a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who allegedly offered them a monetary reward to falsely confess against Ehie.
“We address you today as citizens and residents of Rivers state who feel a need to set the record straight in the light of the happenings in our state and who became victims due to no fault of ours,” Ezebalike said.
“Even after our ordeal and when we thought we could return to normal life, only a few days ago, one of us was called by a PDP leader in Obio/Akpor to come and meet with one of their leaders.
“Upon further prodding, he said they were reaching out to us to persuade us to rewrite our story in order to implicate Rt Hon Edison Ehie as the sponsor or mastermind of the fire incident at the assembly complex as a follow-up to former head of service, George Nwaeke’s press briefing in Abuja.
“This has prompted us to speak out, as we do not want to be part of any nefarious act, especially after the torture we faced.”
Ezebalike also narrated how they were arrested around December 5, 2023, before being released on January 16, 2024.
“All of this happened between December 5, 2023, and January 16, 2024. At some point, we were offered bribes in exchange for our freedom even though it was clear that we had committed no offence that warranted our being arrested and detained,” he said.
They denied involvement in the fire incident, stating, “Three of us — Chime, Kenneth, and Oladele are known associates of Rt. Hon. Ehie Edison and Hon. Sokari Goodboy, while MacPherson was an unfortunate victim of mere proximity.
“Our ordeal began with the arbitrary arrest of Oladele Lukman on December 5, 2023.
“On December 16, Chime and MacPherson were violently apprehended at Ogbakiri Junction along the East-West Road while returning from a funeral in Ahoada.
“On January 5, 2024, Kenneth Kpasa was forcefully taken in GRA, Port Harcourt, by a convoy of no fewer than three Hilux vans.
“We were blindfolded and taken to the Federal-Intelligence Response Team (F-IRT) unit along the Eastern Bypass in Port Harcourt, under the false pretense that the vehicle we were travelling in was stolen.
“It was later revealed that this was a ruse intended to force us into implicating Rt. Hon. Edison Ehie in three serious allegations of the murder of Supol Bako Angbashim, an assassination attempt on Hon. Martins Amaewhule, and the burning of the Rivers State House of Assembly complex.”
The fire incident occurred in October 2023, amidst a political crisis in the state, sparked by a feud between Fubara and Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
The political crisis led to a state of emergency being declared, with President Bola Tinubu suspending Fubara and the Rivers Assembly members for six months.
