Plot To Frame Fubara’s Chief Of Staff Over Assembly Fire Exposed

Four men recently freed over the Rivers Assembly fire incident allege they are facing pressure to falsely accuse Governor Fubara’s Chief of Staff, Edison Ehie.

Four men who were earlier arrested over the fire incident at the Rivers State House of Assembly have said they are being forced to change their original statements.

They claimed that they were being pressured to accuse Edison Ehie, the Chief of Staff to the suspended Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, as the person behind the Assembly fire.

These men — Chime Ezebalike, Kenneth Kpasa, Oladele Lukman, and MacPherson Olumini — were released in November last year after spending about six months in Kuje Correctional Facility. They were discharged after the court found them not guilty of the charges against them.

Speaking at a press briefing in Port Harcourt on Monday, Ezebalike revealed that a well-known political leader in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area contacted them and asked them to rewrite their statements. Three of the four men agreed to speak openly during the press briefing.

They said the request to lie against Edison Ehie was part of a bigger political plan. According to them, this plan was meant to support the claims made by the former Head of Service, George Nwaeke, during a press briefing in Abuja.

“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,” Ezebalike said.

The men also stated that they were being asked to blame Edison Ehie not only for the Assembly fire but also for other crimes. These include the killing of a Divisional Police Officer, Bako Angbashim, in the Ahaoda Area, and an alleged attempt to assassinate the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martins Amaewhule.

They narrated the terrible experience they faced during their six-month detention starting in December 2023. According to them, they were tortured, denied access to lawyers, and forced to sign false confessions.

They also mentioned that a current member of the Rivers State House of Assembly visited them in detention with a uniformed officer and pressured them to implicate Ehie. “When we refused, they turned to beatings and starvation,” they said.

Furthermore, the men accused a former Local Government Chairman of offering them bribes so that they would cooperate and accuse Ehie. The bribes, they said, included ₦200 million and relocation abroad.

They explained that even while they were detained in Abuja, the offer of bribes continued. In one incident, they said another detainee was promised freedom if he agreed to identify Kenneth Kpasa as the person who set fire to the Assembly.

The men said they decided to speak out not only for their own safety but also for other innocent Nigerians who might be suffering in silence.

“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 weaponization of state institutions against innocent citizens,” Ezebalike appealed.
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