A Rivers State High Court has halted further proceedings in the case filed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Professor Ngozi Odu, to challenge the impeachment initiated by the state House of Assembly, and adjourned the matter without a return date.
Gatekeepers News reports that the decision was made on Friday by Justice Florence Fiberesima of the Oyigbo High Court in Port Harcourt after lawyers for the defendants told the court that appeals had already been filed in the Court of Appeal, and asked that the hearing be suspended until those appeals are resolved.
The judge also suspended an earlier interim order she had granted that restrained the chief judge of Rivers State from receiving or acting on any impeachment notice or related documents against Governor Fubara and his deputy.
That injunction had been issued in response to separate suits filed by Fubara and Odu, which barred the Speaker of the House, Martin Amaewhule, and others from forwarding impeachment papers to the chief judge, and prevented the chief judge from forming a panel to investigate alleged gross misconduct.
Fubara and his deputy had taken the matter to court after the Rivers State House of Assembly began impeachment proceedings on January 8, alleging various counts of gross misconduct including budgetary irregularities, failure to present the 2026 appropriation bill, unauthorised spending, and withholding statutory allocations. Lawmakers had also voted to ask the chief judge to set up a seven-member panel to probe the allegations.
The adjournment is meant to allow the Court of Appeal to first rule on the pending appeals before any further action is taken by the High Court, highlighting the complex legal battle that has temporarily stalled the impeachment effort.
