Simeon Amadi, the Chief Judge of Rivers State, has refused to constitute a judicial panel to investigate Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, citing a court injunction that bars him from acting on impeachment-related requests.
The Rivers State House of Assembly had requested that Amadi set up a seven-member panel to probe the governor and his deputy over allegations of gross misconduct.
In a letter dated January 20, 2026, addressed to Martin Amaewhule, Speaker of the Rivers House of Assembly, Amadi said his hands were “fettered” by court orders and therefore he was legally unable to act.
Amadi explained that his office received two interim court orders on January 16, resulting from suits filed by Fubara and Odu. The orders explicitly restrained him from considering or acting on any request, resolution or document related to impeachment proceedings against the governor or deputy governor.
He also noted that Amaewhule has filed an appeal against the interim orders at the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, with notices of appeal served on his office on January 19 and 20.
“By the doctrine of ‘lis pendens’, parties and the court have to await the outcome of the appeal,” the chief judge said in the letter.
Amadi added that the existence of the interim orders and the pending appeal meant he was legally disabled from exercising his duties under Section 188(5) of the Constitution.
“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,” he wrote.
The chief judge urged the assembly to recognise the legal constraints surrounding the matter.
On January 8, the Rivers State House of Assembly began impeachment proceedings against Fubara and his deputy. The process followed the reading of gross misconduct charges against the governor by Major Jack, leader of the assembly, endorsed by 26 lawmakers.
On January 16, lawmakers voted for a motion asking the chief judge to investigate the allegations. The charges include budgetary impropriety, failure to present the 2026 appropriation bill to the assembly, unauthorised expenditure of public funds, withholding of statutory allocations to the legislature, and other acts constituting gross misconduct.
However, a High Court in Port Harcourt later issued an interim order restraining the chief judge from receiving or acting on any impeachment notice against Fubara and Odu.
Presiding Judge Florence Fiberesima barred the chief judge from “receiving, forwarding, considering, or acting on any request, resolution, or articles of impeachment” submitted by members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
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