Rivers Assembly commences third impeachment moves against Fubara

In renewed hostilities between the executive and legislative arms of the Rivers State government, the House of Assembly, yesterday, commenced fresh impeachment proceedings against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Odu, effectively halting his presentation of the 2026 Appropriation Bill.

This would be the third time Fubara and Odu would be facing impeachment proceedings from the Assembly since coming to office in 2023.

Previous attempts to impeach them in 2023 and 2025, amid political feuds between the governor and his predecessor and erstwhile political godfather, now the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had been halted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s intervention.

The frosty relationship also led to the state assembly to commenced another impeachment process against the governor and his deputy in March 2025, which, however, ended after Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State on March 18, 2025, suspending both the executive and legislative arms of the government for six months, and appointing a sole administrator for the state.

The latest development was also on the heels of the formal defection of Governor Fubara to the All Progressives Congress (APC), in a move seen by many to protect himself from Wike’s onslaughts.

But the Publicity Secretary of the APC in the state, Darlington Nwauju, rejected the resort to impeachment against the governor and his deputy, warning the Assembly to desist from the move.

However, the lawmakers commenced the impeachment proceedings during plenary on Thursday, televised live, over allegations of gross misconduct against the governor and his deputy.

The motion sponsored by Deputy Speaker, Dumle Maol, and another member, mandating an investigation into the governor’s financial and administrative actions, was adopted by the Assembly led by Speaker, Martins Amaehwule.

The lawmakers alleged that the governor failed to submit the Mid-Term Expenditure Framework as required by law, claiming that he spent public funds without legislative appropriation.

They alleged that the actions amounted to grave violations of constitutional provisions and undermined the authority of the legislature.

In 2023, the lawmakers, believed to be loyal to Wike, had commenced impeachment process against Fubara, which action created serious tension in the state following the reaction from the governor’s camp. The crisis culminated in a six-month suspension of the governor, his deputy, and the Assembly by the president after declaring emergency rule in the state.

During yesterday’s deliberations, the members, who recently defected from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to APC, accused Fubara of “recalcitrant disobedience” to Tinubu.

They claimed that the president had intervened multiple times to broker peace in the state’s lingering political crisis. They alleged that the governor failed to honour resolutions reached.

Speaker of the Assembly, Amaewhule, while addressing the chamber, said the Assembly would not abdicate its constitutional responsibilities.

“We will follow due process to the letter. The law must take its full course,” Amaewhule declared, vowing that the impeachment proceedings would be pursued to their logical conclusion.

The speaker further cited a Supreme Court judgement, which he claimed indicted both the governor and his deputy, insisting that the unfolding crisis should not be framed as a personal conflict between Fubara and Wike.

“This is not about personalities. The governor is not fighting any individual; he is fighting against the constitution,” Amaewhule stated.

As part of the resolutions reached, the Assembly barred Fubara from presenting the Mid-Term Expenditure Framework and the 2026 budget until the conclusion of the probe into the alleged misconducts.

It was expected that the judiciary would commence investigation into the allegations in the coming days.

A Rivers State High Court, sitting in Port Harcourt, had in July 2025 issued an ex parte order barring Chief Judge of the state and Clerk of the House of Assembly from dealing with Amaewhule and 26 other lawmakers loyal to Wike.

Justice Jumbo Stephen ordered that the chief judge, the clerk, and other defendants in the suit should “not act on any resolutions, articles of impeachment or others” from Amaewhule and 26 other pro-Wike lawmakers.

The judge granted the order in a suit marked PHC/2177/CS/2024 filed by the Rivers State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, and Fubara.

Among residents of the state, reaction to the impeachment move ranged from expression deep concern about the implications of the Assembly’s action for governance, budgeting, and economic stability, to condemnation of the move as “the last kick of a dying horse”.

Critics of the lawmakers alleged that the impeachment move was a desperate attempt to assert relevance after failing to secure direct access to the president to press claims that the governor breached earlier political agreements.

Reacting on the development, the factional state publicity secretary of APC, Nwauju, advised the lawmakers to resist pressures from outside the Assembly to destablise the government of Fubara.

Nwauju, in a statement, titled, “Rivers APC rejects impeachment process against Gov Sim Fubara,” said the party would do everything in its power to ensure that the government of Rivers State, being an APC government, was not destabilised through fratricidal disagreements.

Nwauju stated, “We concede that the legislature is an independent arm in the tripod of governance, and the constitutional responsibilities of checks and balances are within their democratic purview.

“Our position as of today on this matter is that, we solemnly reject the resort to an impeachment process against our governor and his deputy.

“It will be totally untenable for our party to keep quiet when an obvious hangover from strife that occurred within the PDP are allowed to resurface in our great party.

“It is important to say to Rivers people and Nigerians that since the latest threat of impeachment centres on the budget, may we remind ourselves that under the period of emergency rule, a budget was transmitted to the National Assembly by the President and Commander-in-Chief in May 2025 which was approved by the Senate on 25 June 2025 and subsequently by the House of Representatives on July 22, 2025 for a total sum of N1.485 trillion.

“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.”

Nwauju called on the Assembly to immediately discontinue the impeachment process in order not to drag the image of APC in the mud and stifle the continuous progress and development of Rivers State.

Also, the APC Progressive Mandate Group called for the immediate cessation of impeachment proceedings against Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, describing it as constitutionally flawed, politically motivated, and a direct affront to the peace accord personally brokered by Tinubu.

In a statement issued by Ayodele Alonge, the group warned that the impeachment, already initiated in the Rivers State House of Assembly, was being conducted on a faulty legal line and must be suspended to prevent further destabilisation of the state.

The statement said, “The ongoing impeachment proceedings are fundamentally flawed and lack the constitutional and procedural grounding required for such a serious action.

“More than a legal misstep, this is an affront on the office of the president, who personally mediated the peace between Governor Fubara, Minister Nyesom Wike, and the Rivers State House of Assembly.

“It undermines the painstakingly restored harmony that Nigerians witnessed last year.”