Four men previously charged over the October 2023 Rivers State House of Assembly fire have claimed that pressure was put on them to falsely accuse Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s Chief of Staff, Edison Ehie.
The four, Chime Ezebalike, Kenneth Kpasa, Oladele Lukman and MacPherson Olumini, who were acquitted in November 2024, spoke to journalists on Monday, April 7 at Port Harcourt to reveal what they described as six months of illegal detention and attempts to force them into political interference.
According to Vanguard, the group was represented by a prominent PDP leader in the local government, Ezebalike, who claimed that they were recently offered Obio/Akpor in exchange for a rewritten statement accusing Ehie of being the perpetrator of the parliament arson.
The suspects claimed that the bribe amounted to 200 million and promised to remit the funds abroad to support the claims made earlier by the former head of the department, Dr. George Nwaeke, at a press conference at Abuja.
According to Punch, the four men claimed that they were falsely linked to the parliament house arson, the killing of Ahoda District Police Officer SP Bako Angbashim, and the assassination attempt on the Speaker of Parliament, Martins Amaewhule.
Their arrests were between December 5, 2023 and January 5, 2024. During this period, they claimed to have been blindfolded, denied access to legal counsel and detained in the Federal Intelligence Response Team (F-IRT) prison in Port Harcourt.
After the group spent more than six months in the Kuje Correctional Facility in Abuja, the case was referred to the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt where all charges were dropped in November 2024.
After regaining their freedom, they felt a moral obligation to expose the alleged abuse of power and manipulation by the judiciary.
Earlier, NewsWatch.com.ng reported that the Rivers State High Court in the state capital had ordered the police, the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies to stop arresting Edison Ehie, the Chief of Staff to suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara. Port Harcourt The Indian Criminal Court judge
of the trial court reportedly made the order while ruling on the application of the plaintiff Ehie in the suit. Igwe Source: NewsWatch.com.ng
