Port Harcourt, Rivers State – Four men recently cleared of charges related to the Rivers State House of Assembly fire have alleged they were offered a staggering ₦200 million and an overseas relocation package to falsely implicate Edison Ehie, Chief of Staff to Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
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Chime Ezebalike, Kenneth Kpasa, Oladele Lukman, and MacPherson Olumini, who spent over six months detained at the Kuje Correctional Facility in Abuja, were acquitted in November 2024 of all charges stemming from the December 2023 fire.
In a press briefing held on Monday, Ezebalike revealed that a prominent People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader from Obio/Akpor Local Government Area had approached them, urging them to alter their statements and name Ehie as the mastermind behind the arson.
“We were asked to rewrite our story and falsely name Edison Ehie as the mastermind of the Assembly fire,” Ezebalike stated, expressing his outrage. “This is after everything we have been through. We cannot be part of any nefarious plot, especially not after the trauma we endured”.
The men believe this request is part of a broader political scheme, linking their case to statements made by former Head of Service, George Nwaeke, in Abuja. They also suggested that the pressure to implicate Ehie is connected to other high-profile incidents, including the murder of Ahaoda Area DPO, Bako Angbashim, and an alleged assassination attempt on Speaker Martins Amaewhule.
The four men recounted their harrowing experience, detailing their arrests in December 2023. Oladele was arrested on December 5, 2023, followed by Chime and MacPherson on December 16, and Kenneth on January 5, 2024. They allege they were blindfolded, detained at the Federal Intelligence Response Team (F-IRT) facility in Port Harcourt, and subjected to torture and coercion. They claim they were denied legal access and forced to sign false confessions.
A particularly disturbing incident involved a serving Rivers State House of Assembly member, who allegedly visited them with a uniformed officer and pressured them to implicate Ehie. When they refused, they claim they were beaten and starved.
“They tried to break us,” Kpasa said during the briefing. “When we refused to cooperate, they turned to beatings and starvation.”
In addition to the physical abuse, the men allege a former Local Government Chairman offered them bribes to implicate Ehie, including ₦200 million and an overseas relocation package. These offers were reportedly repeated when they were transferred to detention in Abuja. Some detainees claim they were promised freedom in exchange for framing Kpasa as an arsonist.
After more than six months of detention, the charges against them were finally dropped in November 2024, and the case was transferred to the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt. Now acquitted, the men are speaking out to expose what they describe as the manipulation of the system for political gain.
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“This country belongs to us all,” Lukman said. “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.”
