We Have been Provided N200million, Abroad Relocation Package deal To Implicate Governor Fubara’s Chief Of Workers – Acquitted Suspects Reveal

They alleged that they had been supplied a ₦200 million abroad relocation bundle in alternate for altering their statements to falsely implicate Edison Ehie, the Chief of Workers to the suspended Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara.

4 people who had been not too long ago acquitted of costs associated to the hearth incident on the Rivers State Home of Meeting have made startling claims.

They alleged that they had been supplied a ₦200 million abroad relocation bundle in alternate for altering their statements to falsely implicate Edison Ehie, the Chief of Workers to the suspended Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara.

The 4 males recognized as – Chime Ezebalike, Kenneth Kpasa, Oladele Lukman, and MacPherson Olumini – had been initially detained in reference to the hearth that broke out on the Meeting in December 2023.

After enduring over six months in detention on the Kuje Correctional Facility, Abuja, they had been acquitted of all costs in November 2024.

In the meantime, in a press briefing held in Port-Harcourt on Monday, Ezebalike disclosed that that they had been approached not too long ago by a distinguished chief of the Individuals’s Democratic Party (PDP) from Obio/Akpor Native Authorities Space, who allegedly urged them to vary their testimony and identify Edison Ehie because the mastermind behind the Meeting fireplace.

“We had been requested to rewrite our story and falsely identify Edison Ehie because the mastermind of the Meeting fireplace,” Ezebalike mentioned, visibly upset.

“That is after every little thing we’ve been by. We can’t be a part of any nefarious plot, particularly not after the trauma we endured.”

The 4 males claimed that the request was a part of a broader political agenda, linking their case to statements made by former Head of Service, George Nwaeke, in Abuja.

In addition they prompt that the strain to implicate Ehie was associated to different high-profile circumstances, together with the brutal homicide of Ahaoda Space DPO, Bako Angbashim, and an alleged assassination try on the Speaker of the Rivers State Home of Meeting, Martins Amaewhule.

Recalling their harrowing expertise, the lads described being arrested in December 2023 underneath doubtful circumstances.

Oladele was arrested on December 5, 2023, adopted by Chime and MacPherson on December 16, and Kenneth on January 5, 2024.

They had been allegedly blindfolded, detained on the Federal Intelligence Response Crew (F-IRT) facility in Port Harcourt, and subjected to torture and coercion, together with being denied authorized entry and compelled to signal false confessions.

One of the vital disturbing incidents concerned a serving member of the Rivers State Home of Meeting, who allegedly visited the detainees with a uniformed officer and pressured them to implicate Ehie.

After they refused, they claimed they had been subjected to beatings and hunger.
“They tried to interrupt us,” Kpasa mentioned through the briefing.

“After we refused to cooperate, they turned to beatings and hunger.”

In the meantime, along with the bodily abuse, the lads alleged {that a} former Native Authorities Chairman had supplied them bribes to implicate Ehie.

The bribe, they mentioned, included ₦200million and an abroad relocation bundle.
These bribes had been reportedly repeated when the lads had been transferred to detention in Abuja.

A few of the detainees claimed they had been promised freedom in alternate for framing Kpasa as an arsonist.

After greater than six months of detention, the fees in opposition to them had been lastly dropped in November 2024, and the matter was transferred to the Federal Excessive Courtroom in Port-Harcourt.

Nonetheless, with their acquittal now ultimate, the lads mentioned they had been talking out not only for their very own sake, however to show the lengths to which some political figures would go to govern the system for their very own achieve.
“This nation belongs to us all,” Lukman mentioned, addressing the press.

“Nobody must be tortured or pressured to lie for political comfort. We name on civil society, the media, and all justice-loving Nigerians to rise and resist the weaponisation of state establishments in opposition to harmless residents.”