Rivers State House of Assembly has halted impeachment proceedings targeting Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, lawmakers announced on Thursday during plenary in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
Gatekeepers News reports that the move comes weeks after a faction of legislators loyal to former Governor and current FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, initiated impeachment notices against Fubara and Odu in January.
The lawmakers had accused the state executives of budgetary misconduct, failure to present the 2026 appropriation bill, unauthorised spending of public funds, and withholding statutory allocations to the legislature. 26 members of the assembly reportedly signed the impeachment notice.
Legal interventions complicated the process. A Port Harcourt High Court issued an interim order restraining the Chief Judge of Rivers State from receiving or acting on any impeachment notice.
Following this, Chief Judge Simeon Amadi declined to set up a judicial panel to probe the allegations, citing an ongoing appeal by Assembly Speaker Martin Amaewhule at the Court of Appeal, with notices of appeal served in January.
The political tension prompted President Bola Tinubu to intervene. On February 9, he met with Fubara and Wike at the Presidential Villa to address the dispute. Speaking to journalists the following day, Wike expressed confidence that the President’s intervention would end the crisis.
“This is the second time Mr President is intervening and I believe by the grace of God that this will be the last time Mr President will intervene,” Wike said.
With the Assembly’s suspension of the proceedings, the development offers a reprieve and an opportunity for dialogue between the contending factions.
