The Chief Judge of Rivers State, Simeon Amadi, has refused to constitute a judicial panel to investigate Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, citing subsisting court orders that bar him from taking any action on the matter.
The Rivers State House of Assembly had formally requested the chief judge to set up a seven-member panel to probe both officials over allegations of gross misconduct. However, in a letter dated January 20, 2026, addressed to the Speaker of the Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, Amadi said his hands were “fettered” by injunctions issued by a court.
According to the chief judge, his office was served with two interim orders on January 16, arising from separate suits filed by Fubara and Odu. The orders, he said, explicitly restrained him from handling any process connected to their impeachment.
Amadi disclosed that Amaewhule had already filed an appeal challenging the interim orders at the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, and that notices of appeal were served on his office on January 19 and 20.
“By the doctrine of ‘lis pendens’, parties and the court have to await the outcome of the appeal,” the letter reads.
“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 urged the lawmakers to be “magnanimous enough to appreciate the legal position of the matter”.
The impeachment process against Fubara and his deputy began on January 8, when the Rivers State House of Assembly initiated proceedings. The move followed the reading of allegations of gross misconduct against the governor by Major Jack, leader of the Assembly, with the charges endorsed by 26 lawmakers.
On January 16, the Assembly passed a resolution formally requesting the chief judge to constitute a panel of inquiry.
The allegations levelled against Fubara and Odu include budgetary impropriety, failure to present the 2026 appropriation bill, unauthorised spending of public funds, withholding statutory allocations meant for the legislature, and other actions classified as gross misconduct.
Shortly after, a High Court in Port Harcourt issued an interim injunction restraining the chief judge from taking any step in relation to the impeachment process.
The presiding judge, Florence Fiberesima, specifically barred the chief judge from “receiving, forwarding, considering, or acting on any request, resolution, or articles of impeachment” submitted by members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
