A faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State led by Emeka Beke has rejected the impeachment plot by the state assembly against Siminalayi Fubara, the state governor and his deputy, Ngọzi Odu.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the assembly, on Thursday, began impeachment proceedings against Governor Fubara and his Deputy, Mrs Odu, a professor, over alleged gross misconduct.
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The latest was the third attempt by the lawmakers to impeach the Rivers governor since he was elected in 2023.
‘We reject the impeachment plot’
Reacting in a statement on Thursday, the APC factional spokesperson in Rivers, Darlington Nwauju, described the plot as an “obvious hangover” from strife that occurred within the PDP.
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“Our position as at today on this matter is that, we solemnly reject the resort to an impeachment process against our governor and his deputy,” Mr Nwauju said, vowing that the party would resist the plot.
The APC spokesperson argued that beginning an impeachment proceeding on basis of budget presentation was improper.
He contended that the N1.4 trillion Rivers budget transmitted to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu in May and approved by the National Assembly in June during the emergency rule which was declared in the state remains active.
“Interestingly, this budget is for one year and should run until August 2026 and if the governor is comfortable with the composition of the said budget, he may elect not to present any supplementary budget.
“Besides, the constitution allows for a six-months spending window into the new fiscal year by a state governor,” he said.
‘Resist pressures from outside, discontinue the plot’
Mr Nwauju appealed to Rivers lawmakers to resist pressures from outside the assembly to destablise Governor Fubara’s administration.
He further urged the lawmakers, especially APC members in the assembly, to immediately discontinue the impeachment process against Mr Fubara in order not to “drag the image of our great party to the mud” and frustrate the development of the state.
“Let it be known that our party will do everything possible to ensure that the government of Rivers State, which is an APC government, is not destabilised through fratricidal disagreements,” he said.
Background
Due to an intense leadership crisis within the APC in Rivers State, the party split into two factions in the state with both claiming to be the authentic leadership in the state.
Tony Okocha leads one faction while Mr Beke the other, where Mr Nwauju belongs.
While Mr Okocha’s faction has the backing of the APC national leadership and the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, Mr Beke’s faction is aligned with Mr Fubara who defected to the party in December 2025.
Meanwhile, this is the third attempt by the Rivers assembly to impeach Mr Fubara since he became the governor of the state in 2023 amid feud between him and his predecessor, Mr Wike.
The assembly first initiated an impeachment proceeding against Mr Fubara in October 2023 over allegations of gross misconduct.
But the impeachment process was dropped shortly after President Bola Tinubu mediated in the political rift between Mr Fubara and Mr Wike at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
In December of that year, the lawmaker officially withdrew the impeachment notice against Governor Fubara following a peace deal signed by Messrs Fubara and Wike.
The peace deal later broke down with the Rivers Assembly stripping Governor Fubara of the power to appoint caretaker committees for local government councils.
In March 2025, the assembly, for the second time, began an impeachment process against Governor Fubara and his Deputy, Mrs Odu, after serving a notice of alleged misconduct against them.
While the process was ongoing, President Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers on 18 March 2025 and suspended all elected officials in the state, including the governor, for six months.
Mr Fubara only returned to office in September of that year after the president declared an end to the emergency rule following a second peace deal brokered in June between Messrs Fubara and Wike alongside their supporters.
The second peace deal recently broke down with Mr Wike accusing the governor of reneging on the terms of the latest agreement in the peace deal brokered by the president.
