Four persons who were previously detained in connection with the fire at the Rivers State House of Assembly have come forward with claims that they were offered a substantial bribe to implicate Edison Ehie, the Chief of Staff to the suspended Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara.
The detainees, who were held for approximately six months before being acquitted, spoke out in Port Harcourt, the state capital, on Monday. They included Chime Ezebalike, Kenneth Kpasa, Oladele Lukman, and MacPherson Olumini, three of whom chose to reveal their faces during the press briefing.
The four men were freed in November 2024 after being acquitted of all charges related to their involvement in the fire at the assembly. Prior to their release, they had been detained at the Kuje Correctional Centre for nearly six months. According to the men, they were subjected to physical abuse and coercion during their time in custody.
Ezebalike recounted their experience, revealing that they were contacted by a key figure within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area. The leader allegedly urged them to change their testimony and falsely accuse Edison Ehie of masterminding the devastating fire at the assembly.
Ezebalike expressed the group’s disbelief at the suggestion: “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.”
The charges that had initially been leveled against the men were reportedly linked to several high-profile events, including the fire at the Rivers State House of Assembly, the murder of Bako Angbashim, a Divisional Police Officer in the Ahaoda area, and an alleged assassination attempt on Martins Amaewhule, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The detainees also detailed their ordeal, which began in December 2023. They were arrested under questionable circumstances, with Oladele being detained first on December 5, followed by Chime and MacPherson on December 16, and Kenneth on January 5. They were transported to the Federal Intelligence Response Team (FIRT) facility in Port Harcourt, where they were allegedly tortured, denied access to legal representation, and coerced into signing false confessions.
One particularly disturbing claim came from the detainees, who said that a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, accompanied by a uniformed officer, had visited them during their time in custody and pressured them to implicate Ehie. When they refused, they were allegedly subjected to physical abuse and denied food.
In addition to the coercion, the detainees claimed they were offered large sums of money and a chance to relocate abroad if they agreed to cooperate. According to their account, a former Local Government Chairman reportedly offered them N200 million and the option to move overseas as part of the deal.
This offer, the detainees said, was repeated while they were in detention in Abuja. The pressure to cooperate did not stop there; they also claimed that another detainee was promised freedom in exchange for identifying Kenneth Kpasa as the person responsible for the fire.
After spending over six months in Kuje Correctional Centre, the case was transferred to the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, where the charges against the four men were ultimately dropped in November 2024. Now free, the group has decided to speak out, not only to clear their names but to raise awareness about the injustices they experienced.
The four men, who have now been exonerated, expressed concern about the potential suffering of other innocent individuals who may be facing similar treatment. They stated, “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.”
