Edison Ehie, chief of staff to suspended Gov Sim Fubara, has slammed a N2bn suit from George Nweke, immediate past head of service in Rivers State and the man behind the widely circulating video clip alleging that Ehie was leader of the team that burnt the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Ehie has filed a defamation suit in a court in Rivers State and joined a television station that aired the interview.
In the suit, Ehie said Nwaeke, in an interview televised by the second defendant on March 29, alleged that he was responsible for the fire that engulfed the Rivers House of Assembly complex in October 2023.
The chief of staff said the publication is false and that it caused serious injury to his character and reputation.
He thus demanded: “An order for immediate retraction of the said publication and an apology to the claimant by the defendants for the said invidious and libelous publication forthwith and same to be widely publicized in the second defendant’s television network, another television network and two newspapers with nationwide leadership in Nigeria.”
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Ehie prayed the court to issue an order restraining the defendants from further publishing or circulating any malicious information against him.
He said the N2 bn he demanded is for general damages.
The high court judge, Jumbo Stephens, ruled that Nwaeke be served the originating processes in the suit via substituted means.
The judge ruled that the processes should be pasted at the first defendant’s residence in Port Harcourt and published in a national newspaper.
Trouble began in October 2023, when fire razed a section of the Rivers state house of assembly complex in Port Harcourt.
The fire incident occurred as Rivers lawmakers loyal to Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory, plotted to initiate impeachment proceedings against Fubara.
The feud between Fubara and Wike polarised the state’s parliament and sparked a political crisis.
Owing to the crisis, President Bola Tinubu on March 18, 2025, declared a state of emergency in the oil-rich state.
The president had suspended Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu; and all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly for six months.
Ibok-Ete Ibas, a retired vice admiral, was appointed as the sole administrator.
In March, Nwaeke claimed that Fubara directed Ehie to burn down the Rivers house of assembly.
He alleged that he was at the government house “when a bag of money was handed over to Edison for that operation, though I do not know the amount inside”.
The matter become more sensitive because President Tinubu hinged his actions in declaring state of emergency and suspending the political leadership of the state on the burning of House of Assembly.
