Rivers Chief Judge rejects Assembly’s request to probe Fubara

Justice Simeon Amadi, the Chief Judge of Rivers State, has declined a request to set up a judicial panel to investigate the embattled Governor of the State, Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Odu.

The move followed by the State House of Assembly’s earlier request presented to the Chief Judge to set up a seven member panel to investigate Fubara and Odu, over allegations of gross misconduct and abuse of office as part of ongoing impeachment proceedings that began week ago in the State.

But in a letter dated January 20, 2026, and addressed to the Speaker of the House, Martin Amaewhule, Justice Amadi said he was legally barred from acting on the request due to existing court injunctions, citing subsisting court orders restraining him from taking such action.

The Chief Judge noted that his office was served with two interim court orders on January 16, 2026, following suits filed by both Governor Fubara and Deputy Governor Odu.

The orders expressly restrained him from considering or acting on any resolution, request or document connected to impeachment proceedings against either of the two officials, according to the Chief Judge.

Justice Amadi also noted that the Speaker had already challenged the court orders at the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, adding that notices of appeal were 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,” Amadi said.

The existence of the injunctions and the pending appeal had effectively tied his hand, the Judge said, “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 who appealed to the lawmakers to recognise the legal constraints surrounding the matter, while urging the Assembly to be “magnanimous enough to appreciate the legal position of the matter”.