A Rivers State High Court sitting in Oyigbo, Oyigbo local government area of the State, has declined jurisdiction to hear the suits challenging impeachment proceedings against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Professor Ngozi Odu.
When the two suits filed by Fubara and Odu came up on Friday before the Court, the presiding judge, Justice Florence Fiberesima, said the matter was already before the Court of Appeal following an appeal filed by the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule.
Amaewhule had approached the appellate court to give interpretation to Section 188 (10) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As amended), after a lower court issued an interim injunction restraining the House from going ahead with the impeachment proceedings.
The lower court also restrained the Chief Judge of the State, Justice Simeon Amadi, from constituting a seven-man panel to investigate allegations of gross misconduct levelled against Fubara and his deputy by 25 members of the State House of Assembly.
Justice Fiberesima stated that it was beyond the powers of the State High Court to hear a matter that is already before an appellate court and thereafter adjourned indefinitely, pending the decision of the appeal court.
Recall that the Chief Judge had in a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of Assembly, dated January 20, 2026, declined to constitute a panel to investigate allegations against the governor and his deputy, the matter was already sub judice.
Leadership
