The impeachment move initiated by the Rivers State House of Assembly against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Nma-Odu, has suffered a huge setback.
In a dramatic twist of events, the Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Simeon C. Amadi, has flatly declined the Assembly’s to constitute a seven-man investigative panel to probe allegations of gross misconduct that the Martin Amaewhule-led slammed against the duo.
The impeachment move has spiked the political temperature of the state to a new high as major stakeholders in the state decried the move as a political witch-hunt sponsored by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.
Now, Justice Simeon C. Amadi has declined the Assembly’s request, citing subsisting court orders and a pending appeal.
Justice Amadi conveyed his position to the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Martin Amaewhule, in a formal letter in which he acknowledged receipt of two separate requests from the legislature dated January 16, 2026.
The requests were made pursuant to Sections 188(4) and 188(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), following resolutions of the House to initiate impeachment proceedings against the governor and his deputy.
In the letter, Justice Amadi read in part: “By the doctrine of ‘lis pendens’, parties and the court have to await the outcome of the appeal.
“…In view of the foregoing, my hand is fettered, as there are subsisting interim orders of injunction and appeal against the said orders. I am therefore legally disabled at this point from exercising my duties under Section 188(5) of the Constitution in the instant.”
According to the Chief Judge, the Assembly’s requests were accompanied by extensive documentation, including copies of the notice of allegations of gross misconduct, the Rivers State Impeachment Panel (Conduct of Investigations) Procedure, 2025, and relevant newspaper publications.
However, Justice Amadi disclosed that his office had earlier been served with two interim injunctions issued by the Rivers State High Court sitting in Oyigbo on January 16, 2026.
The suits—OYHC/6/CS/2026 filed by the Deputy Governor and OYHC/7/CS/2026 filed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara—listed the Speaker and 32 others as defendants, with the Chief Judge named as the 32nd defendant.
The interim orders expressly restrained the Chief Judge from “receiving, forwarding, considering or whosoever acting on any request, resolution, articles of impeachment or other communication” from the House of Assembly in relation to the impeachment process for a period of seven days. Certified true copies of the court orders were attached to the correspondence.
Beyond the subsisting injunctions, Justice Amadi noted that the House of Assembly itself has filed an appeal against the interim orders at the Court of Appeal. He invoked the legal doctrine of lis pendens, stressing that once a matter is before a higher court, all parties are bound to maintain the status quo pending its determination.
Emphasising the supremacy of the rule of law, the Chief Judge stated that all persons and authorities are obligated to obey valid court orders until they are set aside. He reinforced this position by citing judicial precedent, including Hon. Dele Abiodun v. The Hon. Chief Judge of Kwara State & Ors (2007), where a Chief Judge was faulted for proceeding with the constitution of an investigative panel in defiance of a restraining court order.
He said that his hands were legally fettered and that he was currently unable to exercise his constitutional duty under Section 188(5) of the Constitution.
The development effectively stalls the impeachment process initiated by the Rivers State House of Assembly and shifts the contest fully into the judicial arena, pending the outcome of both the appeal at the Court of Appeal and the substantive suits before the High Court.
