By Suleiman Anyalewechi
“We were offered the sum of N200m and a trip to Ghana with our families”
The four suspects arrested and arraigned in the wake of the razing of a substantial part of the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex in December 2023, have alleged that they are under intense pressure to rewrite their statements so as to implicate Hon Edison Ehie the Chief of Staff to suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
It would be recalled that Dr George Nweke ,the immediate past Head of Service of the State, had, in Abuja, alleged that Edison Ehie was given money by Fubara to mastermind the bombing of the Assembly Complex.
According to him, Governor Fubara in a bid to prevent his impeachment by the Pro-Nyesom Wike- dominated Legislative body, advanced generous funds to Ehie to recruit those to bring down the Assembly Complex.
The Source reports that following the burning of the Assembly building, some suspects were arrested and arraigned by police.
While some were taken to Abuja for detention and arraignment, others were taken to a Port Harcourt Federal High Court.
However, after several months of incarceration, they were granted bail by the Courts.
But speaking in Port Harcourt the Rivers State capital on Monday, April 7, 2025, one of the released suspects, Chime Ezebalike, informed that some elders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from the Obio/Akpor Local Council of the state have been trying to cajole and buy them over to change their original statements with the intent to rope in Governor Fubara’s Chief of Staff.
Other freed suspects, apart from Ezebalike ,are Kenneth Kpasa, Prince Oladele Lukeman, and MacPherson Olumini.
According to Ezebalike, the accused were arrested and detained for over six months before being granted a reprieve by a Federal High Court sitting in the State capital Port Harcourt.
He, specifically, alleged that those who have approached them want them to re-write their original statements to align them with the position of Dr Nweke, the former HoS on the alleged role played by Ehie.
“Even after our ordeal, and when we had 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 re-write our statement in order to implicate Edison Ehie as the sponsor or the mastermind of the fire incident at the Assembly Complex as follow up to the former Head of Service, George Nweke’s press briefing in Abuja .
“This is why we want to speak out as we do not want to be part of any nefarious activities, especially after the torture we faced.
“For six to eight months we endured an unjust harrowing experience in the hands of security agencies and political actors.
“Our offence was because we refused to frame individuals, including the Chief of Staff to the Rivers State Governor Ehie, as the mastermind of the Rivers State House of Assembly inferno.
“Starting from December 2023, we – Chime Ezebalike ,Kenneth Kpasa , Prince Oladele Lukman and MacPherson Olumini – were individually and collectively subjected to arrest, intimidation ,physical assaul, and psychological torture.
“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.
“Our ordeal began with an arbitrary arrest of Oladele Lukman on December 5,2023. 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 Unit, along the Eastern Bypass, Port Harcourt, under the false pretense that the vehicle we were traveling 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 –
the murder of Supol Bako Angbashim, an assassination attempt on Martins Amaewfule, and the burning of the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex”, Ezebalike stated.
He further alleged that while in detention, several other attempts were also made to break their spirits and coerce them into implicating their prime target- Edison Ehie.
According to Ezebalike, after failing in their mission in Port Harcourt, they were moved to Abuja where they were subjected to more brutal torture.
Similarly, he noted, it was in Abuja that they were offered the sum of N 200 million and a trip to Ghana together with their families.
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