The Chief Judge of Rivers State, Justice Simeon Amadi, has declined a request by the Rivers State House of Assembly to constitute a judicial panel to investigate Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Dr Ngozi Odu, citing subsisting court orders restraining him from taking such action.
The House of Assembly had asked the chief judge to set up a seven-member panel to probe allegations of gross misconduct levelled against the governor and his deputy.
However, in a letter dated January 20 and addressed to the Speaker of the House, Martins Amaewhule, Justice Amadi said he was legally barred from receiving, processing or acting on the request due to two existing court orders.
According to the chief judge, the orders were served on his office on January 16, 2026, and remain valid and binding.
Justice Amadi stressed that constitutionalism and the rule of law require strict obedience to subsisting court orders, regardless of any party’s views on their propriety or merit.
“The principle of constitutionalism and the rule of law demands that all authorities and persons obey court orders that are subsisting,” he stated.
He referenced legal precedents to support his position, noting that in a similar case in 2007, the Chief Judge of Kwara State was criticised for disregarding a restraining court order to constitute an investigative panel, a decision later nullified by the Court of Appeal.
The Rivers chief judge further noted that the Speaker of the House had already appealed the court orders at the Court of Appeal, thereby deepening the legal complexity surrounding the matter.
“By the doctrine of lis pendens, parties and the court have to await the outcome of the appeal,” Justice Amadi said.
He explained that the subsisting injunctions, coupled with the pending appeal, had effectively tied his hands.
“In view of the foregoing, my hand is fettered, as there are subsisting interim orders of injunction and an appeal against the said orders. I am therefore legally disabled at this point from exercising my duties under Section 188(5) of the Constitution in the instant matter,” he said.
Justice Amadi urged members of the House of Assembly to appreciate the legal constraints surrounding the issue, calling on them to be “magnanimous enough to recognise the legal position of the matter.”
