Fubara’s Impeachment Halted as Court Adjourns Suit Indefinitely

Rivers State High Court, Oyigbo judicial Division, sitting in Port Harcourt, has adjourned indefinitely the suit filed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, challenging the impeachment process initiated against them by the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Presiding Judge, Justice Florence Fiberesima, adjourned the matter after being informed that two separate appeals had been entered in respect of the matter.

The adjournment, the court held, would allow the Court of Appeal to first determine the issues before it.

At the resumed hearing, counsel to the Speaker of the House, Martin Amaewhule, and 27 lawmakers, S.I. Amen, (SAN), notified the court of the pending appeals and applied orally for a stay of proceedings.

The application was not opposed by counsel to the claimants, Paul Orikoro (SAN), nor by Lawrence Oko-Jaja (SAN), who represents Victor Oko-Jumbo, Orubienimigha Timothy, and Sokari Goodboy, the other defendants in the suit.

Justice Fiberesima consequently adjourned the matter sine die, pending the outcome of the appeals.

The development comes amid an earlier interim injunction granted by the same Court, which restrained the Speaker, Martins Amaewhule, several lawmakers, the Clerk of the House, and the Chief Judge of the state from taking further steps toward the impeachment of the governor and his deputy.

The injunction barred the forwarding or consideration of impeachment notices or related documents for the purpose of constituting an investigative panel over alleged gross misconduct.

Rivers State Chief Judge, Justice Simeon C. Amadi, had on Thursday declined a request by the Rivers State House of Assembly to constitute a seven-man investigative panel to probe allegations of gross misconduct against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Nma-Odu, citing subsisting court orders and a pending appeal.

Justice Amadi’s position was conveyed in a formal letter addressed to the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, acknowledging receipt of two separate requests from the legislature dated January 16, 2026.

The requests were made pursuant to Sections 188(4) and 188(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), following resolutions of the House to initiate impeachment proceedings against the governor and his deputy.

“By the doctrine of ‘lis pendens’, parties and the court have to await the outcome of the appeal,” the letter read in part.

“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.”

According to the Chief Judge, the Assembly’s requests were accompanied by extensive documentation, including copies of the notice of allegations of gross misconduct, the Rivers State Impeachment Panel (Conduct of Investigations) Procedure, 2025, and relevant newspaper publications.

However, Justice Amadi disclosed that his office had earlier been served with two interim injunctions issued by the Rivers State High Court sitting in Oyigbo on January 16, 2026.

The suits: OYHC/6/CS/2026 filed by the Deputy Governor and OYHC/7/CS/2026 filed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara, listed the Speaker and 32 others as defendants, with the Chief Judge named as the 32nd defendant.

The interim orders expressly restrain the Chief Judge from “receiving, forwarding, considering or howsoever acting on any request, resolution, articles of impeachment or other communication” from the House of Assembly in relation to the impeachment process for a period of seven days.

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