The Rivers State House of Assembly has halted its impeachment proceedings against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngọzi Odu.
The House made the decision during a plenary on Thursday, TVC News, a Lagos-based television station, reported.
|
|
The assembly had on 8 January initiated an impeachment move against the governor and his deputy, Mrs Odu, a professor, over alleged gross misconduct.
The process was, however, halted after a court restrained the lawmakers and the Chief Judge, Simeon Chibuzor-Amadi, from proceeding with the process.
|
|
|
|---|
The latest move by the lawmakers to stop the impeachment process followed President Bola Tinubu’s fourth intervention in the protracted political crisis in the oil-rich state.
Like others, the recent political crisis was triggered by a fresh feud between Mr Fubara, and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, now minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Mr Tinubu, two weeks ago, met with key political actors, including Messrs Wike and Fubara, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja in a renewed attempt to solve the lingering political crisis in Rivers.
Why assembly halted impeachment move
During the plenary, the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, said that the Rivers assembly’s decision to halt impeachment proceedings against the governor and his deputy was “in compliance with the terms of agreement and in fulfillment of its promise to President Tinubu.”
The details of the Thursday plenary were contained in a statement by Martin Wachukwu, the spokesperson to the Speaker.
Mr Amaewhule said that the House has also decided to withdraw its appeal filed at the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, challenging the order of the state high court which had restrained the assembly from going ahead with the impeachment proceedings.
He added that Mr Fubara and Mrs Odu have also withdrawn their separate suits at the high court against the assembly.
The governor and his deputy, in separate suits challenging the impeachment process, secured injunctions from the high court restraining the chief judge from acting on the assembly’s request or constituting the probe panel.
The Speaker said the assembly took the decision in obedience to the promise made to Mr Tinubu, following his latest intervention in the political crisis in the state.
Mr Amaewhule highlighted some of the terms of the agreement reached in the latest peace deal.
He listed the agreements to include the implementation of all previous agreements made, stoppage of all breaches of the Constitution and the Laws of Rivers State by the governor and his deputy.
The Speaker said, the assembly members on their part, were required to halt all impeachment proceedings against the governor and his deputy.
Background
There had been a renewed political crisis in Rivers triggered by a seemingly intractable feud between Governor Fubara and Mr Wike.
Mr Wike influenced Mr Fubara’s emergence as governor in 2023, but both politicians fell out months after because of the struggle for control of the political structures in the oil-rich state.
President Tinubu had brokered two peace deals between the parties, but they all collapsed shortly after.
The crisis later resulted in the declaration of emergency rule in the state in 2025.
Mr Fubara, who was suspended by Mr Tinubu for six months alongside all elected officials in the state in March 2025, only returned to office in September of that year after the president declared an end to the emergency rule.
In early January, Mr Wike-backed members of the Rivers State House of Assembly commenced the third attempt to impeach Governor Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu.
The House accused them of “gross misconduct,” including an alleged failure to comply with constitutional requirements, such as presenting the annual budget.
The impeachment move came shortly after Mr Wike accused Governor Fubara of reneging on an agreement they had in the last peace deal.
However, the High Court halted the impeachment move by restraining the assembly and the state’s chief judge from going ahead with it.
READ ALSO: ANALYSIS: The price Tinubu would’ve paid if Fubara had been impeached
Mr Wike, who confirmed the latest intervention by President Tinubu, expressed hope that this would be the end of the political crisis in the oil-rich state.
As part of the agreement, Mr Fubara, on 12 February, dissolved the state executive council, four days after Mr Tinubu’s intervention.
The governor has yet to send a fresh list of commissioner nominees to the state assembly for confirmation as of 19 February.
