The request by Rivers State lawmakers that the Chief Judge establish the mandatory panel to review their case to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara has suffered a rude blow.
The Chief Judge, Justice Chibuzor Simeon Amadi, has rejected the request from the lawmakers to establish a seven-member panel to probe their allegations of gross misconduct against Fubara and his Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu.
According to the Chief Judge, the nay decision was based on court orders that prohibited him from creating such a panel.
He said he hoped the lawmakers would be “magnanimous enough to appreciate the legal position of the matter.”
Justice Amadi also noted that the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martins Amaewhule, has already filed an appeal against the injunction at the Court of Appeal.
In the letter dated January 20 and addressed to the Speaker of the House, Martins Amaewhule, the Chief Judge cited two court orders barring him from receiving, forwarding, or considering any requests to form such a panel.
The Judge stated that the orders were served on his office on January 16, 2026 and remained in force.
He said that constitutionalism and the rule of law require all authorities to obey subsisting court orders, irrespective of their perception of the orders’ validity.
He referenced legal precedents, noting that in a similar case in 2007, the Chief Judge of Kwara State was condemned for ignoring a restraining court order when setting up an investigative panel, a decision later voided by the Court of Appeal.
Justice Amadi further observed that the Speaker had already filed an appeal against the court orders at the Court of Appeal, adding another layer to the ongoing legal proceedings surrounding the allegations.
“By the doctrine of ‘lis pendens’, parties and the court have to await the outcome of the appeal,” he said.
Justice Amadi further stated that the existence of the injunctions and the pending appeal had effectively tied his hands.
“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 said.
