Court stops Rivers CJ from acting on Assembly’s impeachment move

A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has restrained the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi, from receiving or acting on any communication from the Rivers State House of Assembly connected to the planned impeachment of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Nma Odu.

The order was issued by the High Court of Oyibo Local Government Area following two separate suits filed by Governor Fubara and his deputy, marked Suit Nos. OYHC/7/CS/2026 and OYHC/6/CS/2026.

In its interim injunctions, the court also barred the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Mr. Martin Amaewhule, alongside 32 other defendants, including the Clerk of the Assembly and the Chief Judge, from taking further steps in the impeachment process.

Justice F. A. Fiberesima, who presided over the matter, specifically restrained Justice Amadi from receiving, considering, forwarding or acting on any request, resolution, articles of impeachment or other correspondence from the 1st to the 27th defendants aimed at setting up a panel to investigate alleged misconduct against the governor and his deputy. The order is to subsist for a period of seven days.

The ruling was delivered while granting motions ex parte filed by the governor and his deputy.

The court further granted permission for substituted service of the interim orders and originating processes on the 1st to the 31st defendants by pasting them at the gate of the Rivers State House of Assembly Quarters.

It also directed that the processes be served on the 32nd defendant, the Chief Judge of Rivers State, through any judiciary staff at the Chief Judge’s Chambers within the High Court complex.

The case was adjourned to January 23, 2026, for the hearing of the motion on notice.