Four people who were previously arraigned for allegedly involved in the alleged arson at the Rivers State Capitol, claiming they were forced to change their original statements to suggest Governor Edison Ehie involved in Rivers Governor Sim Fubara.
Four people identified as Chime Ezebalike, Kenneth Kpasa, Oladele Lukman and Macpherson Olumini were acquitted about six months later at the Kuje Correctional Institution in Abuja in November 2024.
Ezebalike said at a press conference in Harcourt Harbour on Monday, April 7 that a prominent PDP leader in the state’s OBIO/AKPOR local government area recently contacted them to change their narrative. He said the request was linked to Rivers State’s broader political program, which was allegedly intended to confirm claims made by former service director Dr. George Nwaeke at a press conference in Abuja.
“We were asked to rewrite our story, mistakenly referring to Edison Ehie as the mastermind of the fire of the convention. It’s all we’ve experienced. We can’t be part of any evil plot, especially after the trauma we’ve suffered, nor can we be.”
The crimes they were posed include the burning of the state legislative complex, the tragedy of SP Bako Angbashim, the DPO in the Ahaoda area of the state, and the alleged killing of the alleged assassination attempt against the speaker Martins Amaewhule, a speaker of the Rivers state legislator.
They have narrated their distressing six months of suffering in the hands of security agents and politicians starting in December 2023.
They narrated the arrest of Oladele and Kenneth on December 5, 2023, on January 5, from Oladele and Kenneth on December 5, allegedly blindfolded and detained at the Federal Intelligence Response Team (F-lirt) facility in Port Harcourt.
They said they were allegedly tortured there, denied legal visits and were forced to sign false confessions.
One of the particularly disturbing incidents, they said, involved a service member of the Rivers State Capitol who visited them along with a uniformed officer and imposed a force on them to implicate Esch.
They said: “When we refused, they turned to beating and hunger.”
They also accused a former local government president of offering bribes to them, including 200 million guilds and overseas relocations for cooperation.
In one case, they explained that he allegedly promised his freedom if he identified Kenneth Kpasa as the arsonist.
Six months after the establishment of the Kuje Correctional Institution, the matter was transferred to the Federal High Court at Harcourt Port, and in November 2024, all charges were dropped.
It is time, they say, for the freedom, not only for themselves, but for the other innocent citizens who may be silent.
They said: “This country belongs to all of us. No one should be tortured or forced to lie for political convenience. We call on civil society, the media and all the justice-loving Nigerians to rise up and resist the weaponization of innocent citizens by state institutions.”
