In a startling revelation, four men who were recently acquitted in connection with the arson attack on the Rivers State House of Assembly have alleged that they were severely tortured and pressured to falsely accuse Edison Ehie, the Chief of Staff to Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Speaking to journalists in Port Harcourt, one of the freed individuals, Chime Ezebalike, who spoke on behalf of Kenneth Kpasa, Prince Oladele Lukman, and MacPherson Olumini, claimed they were offered a staggering N200 million to implicate Ehie in the incident.
Ezebalike detailed their harrowing ordeal, stating that their only “crime” was their refusal to frame government officials. He narrated how they were subjected to arrests, intimidation, physical assault, and psychological torture between December 5, 2023, and January 16, 2024.
He said: “We were tortured because we refused to falsely link Edison Ehie and others close to Governor Fubara to the Assembly fire. The authorities tried to coerce us with both fear and money, but we stood our ground.”
The victims, three of whom are known associates of Ehie and Hon. Sokari Goodboy, claimed that their arrests were arbitrary. Lukman was picked up first on December 5, followed by the violent arrest of Ezebalike and Olumini on December 16, while returning from a funeral.
Kpasa was later seized in Port Harcourt’s GRA area on January 5 by armed men in three Hilux vehicles, blindfolded, and taken to the Federal Intelligence Response Team (F-IRT) base under false claims that their vehicle was stolen.
They also revealed that they were wrongly accused of involvement in the killing of DPO Bako Angbashim in Ahoada, alleging that it was all part of a grand setup aimed at forcing them to implicate loyalists of Governor Fubara.
This revelation adds a new layer of complexity to the ongoing political turmoil in Rivers State and raises serious concerns about abuse of power and manipulation within law enforcement.
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