Impeachment Plot Hits Legal Wall as Rivers Chief Judge Declines Assembly’s Request to Probe Fubara

The Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Simeon C. Amadi, has stalled the impeachment move against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Nma-Odu, by rejecting the State House of Assembly’s request to constitute a seven-man investigative panel, citing subsisting court orders and a pending appeal.

In a formal letter to the Speaker of the House, Martin Amaewhule, Justice Amadi confirmed receipt of two separate requests dated January 16, 2026, seeking his action under Sections 188(4) and 188(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to investigate allegations of gross misconduct against the governor and his deputy.

However, the Chief Judge said he was legally constrained from acting because of interim injunctions issued by the Rivers State High Court sitting in Oyigbo, as well as an appeal already filed at the Court of Appeal.

Invoking the doctrine of lis pendens, Justice Amadi stressed that once a matter is before a higher court, all parties must maintain the status quo until the appeal is determined.

“By the doctrine of lis pendens, parties and the court have to await the outcome of the appeal,” he stated.

“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.”

He disclosed that his office had been served with two interim injunctions in suits filed by Governor Fubara and his deputy—OYHC/6/CS/2026 and OYHC/7/CS/2026—naming the Speaker and 32 others as defendants, with the Chief Judge listed as the 32nd defendant.

The court orders expressly restrain him from “receiving, forwarding, considering or howsoever acting on any request, resolution, articles of impeachment or other communication” from the House in relation to the impeachment process for seven days. Certified true copies of the orders were attached to his response to the legislature.

Justice Amadi also noted that the House of Assembly itself has appealed the interim injunctions, reinforcing the need to preserve the status quo until the appellate court rules.

Emphasising the supremacy of the rule of law, he reminded all authorities of their obligation to obey court orders until they are set aside, citing the case of Hon. Dele Abiodun v. The Hon. Chief Judge of Kwara State & Ors (2007), where a Chief Judge was faulted for proceeding with an impeachment panel in defiance of a restraining order.

The decision effectively freezes the impeachment process against Governor Fubara and his deputy, pushing the political battle squarely into the courts and placing the final outcome in the hands of the judiciary.