Simeon Amadi, chief judge of Rivers, has declined to constitute a judicial panel to probe Siminalayi Fubara, governor of the state, citing a court order.
The Rivers state house of assembly had asked Amadi to set up
a seven-member panel to investigate Fubara and Ngozi Odu, his deputy, over
allegations bordering on gross misconduct.
In a letter dated January 20, 2026, and addressed to Martin
Amaewhule, speaker of the Rivers house of assembly, Amadi said his hands were
“fettered” by court injunctions.
Amadi said his office had been served with two interim
orders on January 16, arising from suits filed by Fubara and Odu.
The chief judge said the interim orders expressly restrained
him from considering or acting on any request, resolution or document relating
to impeachment proceedings against the governor or deputy governor.
Amadi said Amaewhule has already lodged an appeal against
the interim orders at the court of appeal in Port Harcourt, the capital of
Rivers, noting that the 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.”
The chief judge asked the Rivers state assembly to be
“magnanimous enough to appreciate the legal position of the matter”.
BACKGROUND
On January 8, the Rivers state parliament commenced
impeachment proceedings against Fubara and his deputy.
The lawmakers launched the process after Major Jack, leader
of the assembly, read gross misconduct charges against Fubara, endorsed by 26
members of the house.
On January 16, the lawmakers voted in favour of a motion
requesting the chief judge to probe the gross misconduct allegations against
Fubara and his deputy.
The allegations include budgetary impropriety, failure to
present the 2026 appropriation bill to the assembly, unauthorised expenditure
of public funds, withholding of statutory allocations to the legislature, and
other acts deemed to constitute gross misconduct.
Subsequently, a high court in Port Harcourt issued an
interim order restraining the chief judge from receiving or acting on any
impeachment notice against Fubara and Odu.
Florence Fiberesima, the presiding judge, 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.
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