Rivers Chief Judge Rejects Fubara Probe
By Wellington Jopelo
The Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Simeon Amadi, has refused to constitute a judicial panel to investigate Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, saying he is bound by existing court orders that prevent him from taking such action.
Justice Amadi made this known in a letter dated January 20 to the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martins Amaewhule, following the lawmakers’ request for a seven-member panel to probe allegations of gross misconduct against the governor and his deputy.
He explained that two separate court injunctions, served on his office on January 16, 2026, expressly bar him from receiving, processing or acting on any request to set up an investigative panel, adding that the orders are still in force.
The chief judge stressed that respect for constitutionalism and the rule of law demands strict compliance with subsisting court orders, regardless of how any authority may view their merit or correctness.
He recalled a similar incident in 2007, when the Chief Judge of Kwara State was criticised for ignoring a restraining court order and proceeding to establish a panel of inquiry, a move later overturned by the Court of Appeal.
Justice Amadi further noted that the Speaker has already lodged an appeal at the Court of Appeal against the injunctions, which, in his view, deepens the legal complications surrounding the matter.
Invoking the doctrine of lis pendens, he said all parties must await the outcome of the appeal before taking any further steps on the issue.
“My hand is fettered by the subsisting interim orders of injunction and the pending appeal against those 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.
The chief judge appealed to members of the State Assembly to recognize the legal limitations he is operating under and urged them to be magnanimous enough to appreciate the legal position until the courts resolve the dispute.