Four suspects arrested in connection with the fire that razed the Rivers state house of assembly complex in 2023 say they are being pressured to implicate Edison Ehie, chief of staff (CoS) to Siminalayi Fubara, the suspended governor, in the incident.
At a press conference on Monday, one of the suspects, Chime Ezebalike, spoke on behalf of the group, which also includes Kenneth Kpasa, MacPherson Olumini, and Oladele Lukman.
Ezebalike alleged that a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in recently contacted one of them, offering a monetary reward in exchange for a false confession against Ehie.
“We address you today as citizens and residents of Rivers state who feel a need to set records straight in the light of the happenings in our state and who became victims due to no fault of ours,” Ezebalike said.
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“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.”
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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.
“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.
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“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.”
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BACKGROUND
In October 2023, fire razed a section of the Rivers state house of assembly complex in Port Harcourt.
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The fire incident occurred while Rivers lawmakers, loyal to Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory, were planning to initiate impeachment proceedings against Fubara.
The feud between Fubara and Wike polarised the state parliament and sparked a political crisis in the state.
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Owing to the political crisis, President Bola Tinubu on March 18 declared a state of emergency in the oil-rich state.
The president had suspended Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu; and all members of the Rivers assembly for six months.
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Ibok-Ete Ibas, a retired vice admiral, was appointed as the sole administrator.
In March, George Nwaeke, a former head of Rivers civil service, claimed that Fubara directed Ehie to burn down the Rivers house of assembly.
He alleged that he was at the government house “when a bag of money was handed over to Edison for that operation, though I do not know the amount inside”.
