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Three men acquitted of responsibility in the bomb blast that destroyed a section of Rivers House of Assembly Complex said they were pressured to implicate Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s chief of staff, Edison Ehie in the crime.
A section of the complex went into flames after it was bombed on 29 October 2023, the eve of the impeachment attempt on Mr Fubara by lawmakers loyal to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.
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The men were prosecuted for alleged involvement in the arson but were acquitted by a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt last November after almost a year in detention.
“We were asked to rewrite our story and falsely name Mr Ehie as the mastermind of the assembly fire,” Chime Ezebalike alleged on behalf of his colleagues at a press conference in Port Harcourt on Monday, Vanguard newspaper reported.
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“We cannot be part of any plot, especially after the trauma we endured,” he said and added that some political figures contacted them and demanded they change their original statement and falsely accuse Mr Ehie of responsibility in the burning of the assembly complex.
He did not, however, disclose the identities of the political figures whom he said pressured them to change their statement and put the blame on Governor Fubara’s chief of staff.
Other allegations made by members of the group include an attempt to link them to the murder of Bako Angbashim, a police officer in Ahoada, and an alleged attempt on the life of Assembly Speaker, Martins Amaewhule.
According to Vanguard newspaper, the three men said they were arrested under unclear circumstances, and detained at the Federal Intelligence Response Team facility in Port Harcourt.
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Speaking further the two said they were blindfolded, denied legal representation, and subjected to coercive interrogation tactics.
Mr Ehie
Mr Ehie, a lawyer, is a two-term member who represented Ahoada-East Constituency 11 in the assembly.
He became the speaker of a faction loyal to Mr Fubara after the assembly split into two factions, but later resigned both as speaker and member of the house following the peace deal brokered by President Bola Tinubu to end the political feud between Messrs Fubara and Wike.
He was later appointed chief of staff by Mr Fubara.
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