Impeachment: Rivers Chief Judge declines Assembly’s request to set up probe panel, cites court ruling

Simeon Chibuzor Amadi, Rivers State chief judge

Simeon C. Amadi, Chief Judge of Rivers State, has declined the request, by the state House of Assembly, for him to set up a seven-man panel to probe Siminalayi Fubara, state governor, and Ngozi Odu, his deputy.

The Martin Amaewhule-led Rivers State House of Assembly, in a letter to the chief judge on Friday January 16, 2026, as part of an impeachment process it (Assembly) initiatived on January 7, had urged the CJ to probe allegations of gross misconduct against the governor and his deputy.

Amadi, on Thursday, in response to the Assembly, which had surfaced online, declined the request to set up the probe panel, giving reasons why he cannot do so.

The Chief Judge, in a letter to Martin Amaewhule, Speaker of the Assembly on Thursday, acknowledged receiving the Assembly’s letter to set up the seven-man panel, but said that he is restrained by a subsisting High Court order from taking any further action.

Read also: Fubara impeachment halted as Rivers Chief Judge declines assembly’s request

Fubara and Odu, in separate court processes, challenging the impeachment process, had secured injunctions from a High Court, Holden in Port Harcourt, restraining the chief judge from acting on the Assembly’s request or setting up the probe panel.

According to court documents available, Fubara and Odu had alleged improper service of the impeachment notice.

The Chief Judge’s letter to the Assembly on Thursday also indicates that the Speaker and the Rivers State House of Assembly have already appealed the restraining order by the state High Court, with the appeal expressly noted in the same letter.

Meanwhile, Amaewhule and the Assembly have remained silent on the development, while the CJ’s letter has not been officially released to the public.

…Details later.

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