- Safiu Kehinde
A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has barred the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi, from initiating a panel to probe allegations of gross misconduct filed against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Odu, by the state’s House of Assembly.
NPO Reported that the Martins Amaewhule-led Assembly had instigated an impeachment process against Fubara and his deputy over their alleged misconduct.
As against pleas and withdrawal of some of their colleagues, the lawmakers vowed to proceed with the impeachment as they directed the state’s Chief Judge to set up a panel.
In reaction, Fubara and his deputy filed two separate suitsagainst the impeachment plot.
The suits are marked OYHC/7/CS/2026 and OYHC/6/CS/2026, respectively.
According to reports, the court, in the interim orders of injunction, restrained Amaewhule, alongside 32 other defendants, including the Clerk of the House and the Chief Judge, from taking any steps towards the impeachment of the governor and his deputy.
The court, in the ruling delivered by Justice F. A. Fiberesima, barred Justice Amadi from receiving, forwarding, considering, or acting upon any request, resolution, articles of impeachment, or communication from the 1st to the 27th defendants for the purpose of constituting an investigative panel, pending further proceedings.
The injunction is to subsist for seven days, pending the determination of the motion on notice.
Justice Fiberesima also granted leave to the applicants to serve the interim orders and originating processes on the 1st to the 31st defendants by substituted service, through pasting the court documents at the gate of the Rivers State House of Assembly Quarters.
In addition, the court directed that the court processes be served on the 32nd defendant, the Chief Judge of Rivers State, through any judicial staff member at the Chief Judge’s Chambers within the High Court premises.
The matter was subsequently adjourned to January 23, 2026, for the hearing of the motion on notice.