A Rivers State High Court sitting in Oyigbo Local Government Area has intervened in the state’s deepening political crisis, placing a temporary stop on moves to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Nma-Odu.
In a ruling delivered in Port Harcourt, the court issued an interim injunction restraining the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, and 32 other defendants from taking any further steps to advance the impeachment process against the governor and his deputy.
The defendants include the Clerk of the House of Assembly and the Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Simeon Chibuzor-Amadi. Specifically, the court barred the Chief Judge from receiving, forwarding, considering or acting on any request, resolution or impeachment-related document from the House of Assembly for the purpose of setting up an investigative panel.
The interim order, which is to last for seven days, was granted by Justice Florence Fiberesima after hearing a motion ex parte filed separately by Governor Fubara and his deputy.
In the two suits marked OYHC/7/CS/2026 and OYHC/6/CS/2026, the court further granted the claimants permission to serve the interim order and other originating processes on the first to the thirty-first defendants by pasting the documents at the gate of the Rivers State House of Assembly quarters.
The court also directed that the thirty-second defendant, the Chief Judge of Rivers State, be served through any staff of the judiciary at his chambers within the court premises.
Justice Fiberesima subsequently adjourned the matter to January 23, 2026, for the hearing of the motion on notice, effectively shifting the contest over the impeachment of the governor and his deputy from the political arena to the courtroom.
