The Chief Judge of Rivers State, Simeon Amadi, has declined to constitute a judicial panel to investigate Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy over alleged gross misconduct, saying he is restrained from doing so by existing court orders.
The request to set up a seven-member panel was made by the Rivers State House of Assembly, which commenced impeachment proceedings against Fubara and Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu and asked the chief judge to investigate the allegations.
However, in a letter dated January 20, 2026, addressed to the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule, Justice Amadi said his hands are “fettered” by two interim court injunctions served on his office on January 16, restraining him from receiving, forwarding, considering or acting on any impeachment-related request or panel 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 noted that the Speaker has already filed an appeal against the interim orders at the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, and that under the doctrine of lis pendens, all parties must await the outcome of that appeal before further action can be taken.
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