The Rivers State House of Assembly has suspended the impeachment moves against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, following the intervention of President Bola Tinubu earlier in the month.
The decision to halt the process was taken on Thursday during plenary at the Assembly’s resumed sitting in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
The Assembly has at its first sitting in 2026, the House commenced impeachment proceedings against Fubara and his deputy over alleged gross misconduct.
During the plenary presided over by the Speaker, the Majority Leader, Major Jack, read a notice detailing the allegations of gross misconduct against the governor.
The allegations against the governor and his deputy listed by the House include the demolition of the Assembly complex, extra-budgetary spending, withholding of funds meant for the Assembly Service Commission, alleged refusal to comply with a Supreme Court ruling on the financial autonomy of the legislature, and other acts deemed to constitute gross misconduct.
The House said the notices of allegations were brought pursuant to Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) against the governor and his deputy.
In a letter dated Friday, January 16, 2026, the Assembly requested the state Chief Judge, Justice Simeon Amadi, to set up a seven-man panel to investigate the allegations against Fubara and Odu.
However, Justice Amadi declined the request, stating that he was restrained by a subsisting High Court order from taking further action on the matter.
Fubara and Odu, in separate suits challenging the impeachment process, had secured injunctions from a High Court in Port Harcourt restraining the Chief Judge from acting on the Assembly’s request or constituting the probe panel.
In his response to the Assembly, the Chief Judge also noted that the Speaker and the Rivers State House of Assembly had appealed the restraining order granted by the High Court.
The impeachment proceedings were initiated days after the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, accused the governor of reneging on a peace agreement brokered by President Bola Tinubu in 2025.
– Punch
