- Safiu Kehinde
An Oyigbo High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has adjourned indefinitely the suit filed by the Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his Deputy, Professor Ngozi Nma-Odu, challenging their impeachment processes.
Fubara and Odu had approached the court to challenge the impeachment process initiated against them by the Speaker of the Rivers House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, 26 other members of the House, and the Clerk of the House.
At the hearing of the case of Friday, the presiding judge, Justice Florence Fiberesima adjourned the case sine die following proof of two separate appeals that have been entered.
This, according to the judge, will enable the Appeal Court to determine the suit before it.
Recall that the same court had issued an interim order of injunction against the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, and 32 others, including the Clerk of the House and the Chief Judge of Rivers State.
The order restrained the Speaker and others from forwarding articles of impeachment or other documents or communication to the Chief Judge with the sole aim of setting up a panel to investigate alleged gross misconduct.
It also restrained the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi, acting on any request by the lawmakers to constitute a panel to investigate the purported allegations of misconduct against the governor and his deputy for seven days.
NPO Reported that Amadi had in compliance rejected the Rivers Assembly’s directive ordering him to set up a seven-man panel for the commencement of the impeachment process against the governor.