BREAKING: Court Order Ties CJ’s Hands as Rivers Impeachment Panel on Fubara Stalls

 

The Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Simeon Amadi, has declined to constitute a judicial panel to investigate allegations of gross misconduct levelled against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Odu, citing subsisting court orders restraining such action.

Justice Amadi, in a letter dated January 20, 2026, addressed to the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Mr. Martin Amaewhule, said his office had been served with two interim injunctions barring him from taking any step connected with the impeachment process.

According to the Chief Judge, the interim orders, which were issued on January 16 following suits filed by Governor Fubara and his deputy, expressly restrained him from receiving, considering or acting on any resolution, request or document relating to impeachment proceedings against the duo.

He further disclosed that the Speaker had already appealed the interim orders at the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, noting that the notices of appeal were served on his office on January 19 and 20.

Invoking the doctrine of lis pendens, Justice Amadi stated that all parties must await the outcome of the appeal before any further action could be taken.

“In view of the foregoing, my hands are fettered. There are subsisting interim orders of injunction as well as an appeal against the said orders. I am therefore legally disabled at this point from exercising my constitutional duties under Section 188(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended),” the letter read.

He urged the Rivers State House of Assembly to appreciate the legal position and exercise restraint pending the determination of the appeal.

Background

The Rivers State House of Assembly had, on January 8, commenced impeachment proceedings against Governor Fubara and his deputy over allegations bordering on gross misconduct.

The process was initiated after allegations, endorsed by 26 lawmakers, were read on the floor of the House. Subsequently, on January 16, the Assembly resolved to request the Chief Judge to set up a seven-man panel to probe the allegations.

The allegations include budgetary impropriety, failure to present the 2026 Appropriation Bill to the House, unauthorised expenditure of public funds, and alleged withholding of statutory allocations due to the legislature, among others.

However, a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, presided over by Justice Florence Fiberesima, granted an interim order restraining the Chief Judge from receiving, forwarding or acting on any impeachment notice or resolution against the governor and his deputy.

The development has effectively stalled the impeachment process, pending further judicial pronouncements.