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, Ngozi Odu, over allegations of gross misconduct.
Justice Amadi said his decision was based on subsisting court orders restraining him from receiving, considering, or acting on any request to set up such a panel.
In a letter dated January 20, 2026, and addressed to the Speaker of the House, Martins Amaewhule, the chief judge disclosed that two separate court orders were served on his office on January 16, 2026, and remain valid and binding.
He stressed that the principles of constitutionalism and the rule of law require strict obedience to court orders, regardless of personal opinions about their correctness or validity.
Justice Amadi cited judicial precedents, recalling that in a similar case in 2007, the Chief Judge of Kwara State was condemned for ignoring a restraining court order when he went ahead to set up an investigative panel. That action, he noted, was subsequently nullified by the Court of Appeal.
The chief judge further observed that the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly has already filed an appeal against the restraining orders at the Court of Appeal, thereby deepening the legal issues surrounding the matter.
According to him, the doctrine of lis pendens requires all parties and the court to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the appeal.
“By the doctrine of lis pendens, parties and the court have to await the outcome of the appeal,” Justice Amadi stated.
He added that the existence of the interim injunctions and the pending appeal had effectively restricted him from performing his constitutional duties in the matter.
“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,” he said.
Justice Amadi appealed to members of the state assembly to acknowledge the legal limitations surrounding the request and urged them to be “magnanimous enough to appreciate the legal position of the matter.”
