Rivers speaker heads to court over order delaying Fubara’s impeachment
Rivers speaker heads to court over order delaying Fubara’s impeachment
Rivers State House of Assembly Speaker Martin Amaewhule has appealed the court orders restraining Chief Judge Justice Simeon Amadi from receiving, forwarding, or acting on any request to establish an impeachment panel against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and Deputy Governor Prof. Ngozi Odu.**
This development was revealed in a letter from Justice Amadi to the Speaker, dated January 20, 2026, in which the Chief Judge declined to constitute the requested seven-member panel. He cited two subsisting interim injunctions issued by a Rivers State High Court on January 16, 2026, which bar him from taking any action on the impeachment request.
In the letter, Justice Amadi emphasized that **constitutionalism and the rule of law** demand obedience to existing court orders, regardless of views on their validity. He noted that the Assembly has already filed an appeal against these orders at the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, with notices served on his office on January 19 and 20, 2026. He stated that his hands are “fettered” and he is legally disabled from proceeding under Section 188(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) until the orders are vacated or the appeal resolved.
The Assembly had, on January 16, 2026, formally requested the Chief Judge to set up the panel to investigate allegations of gross misconduct against the governor and deputy, following the House’s initiation of impeachment proceedings earlier in January.
