Rivers lawmakers halt impeachment proceedings against Fubara, deputy

The Rivers State House of Assembly has suspended impeachment proceedings against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, following the intervention of President Bola Tinubu earlier this month.

The decision was reached on Thursday during plenary at the Assembly’s resumed sitting in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

The House had earlier begun impeachment proceedings against the governor and his deputy over alleged gross misconduct at its first sitting of 2026.

At plenary presided over by the Speaker, Majority Leader Major Jack presented a notice outlining the allegations against the pair. The claims included the demolition of the Assembly complex, extra-budgetary spending, withholding funds meant for the Assembly Service Commission, and an alleged refusal to comply with a Supreme Court ruling on the financial autonomy of the legislature, among other issues.

Lawmakers said the notice of allegations was issued under Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

In a letter dated January 16, 2026, the Assembly asked the state Chief Judge, Justice Simeon Amadi, to constitute a seven-member panel to investigate the allegations. However, the Chief Judge declined, citing a subsisting High Court order restraining further action on the matter.

Fubara and Odu had each approached a High Court in Port Harcourt to challenge the impeachment process and obtained injunctions preventing the Chief Judge from acting on the Assembly’s request or setting up the investigative panel.

In his response, Justice Amadi also noted that the Speaker and the Assembly had appealed the restraining order granted by the High Court.

The impeachment push came days after the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, accused the governor of failing to honour a peace agreement brokered by President Tinubu in 2025.