The political crisis in Rivers State has continued to escalate as the State’s House of Assembly stepped up Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s Impeachment process.
The Assembly on Friday formally requested the Chief Judge to set up a panel to investigate Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu.
The resolution was reached during a plenary session presided over by Speaker Martin Amaewhule.
The House, dominated by lawmakers believed to be loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, voted overwhelmingly to move forward with Fubara’s impeachment process, directing the Chief Judge, Justice Simeon Amadi, to constitute a seven-member panel to probe allegations of gross misconduct against the Governor and his deputy.
The decision was taken during plenary on Friday, with 25 lawmakers voting in favour of the motion to forward the matter to the chief judge for further probe, in line with Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The allegations against the governor and his deputy include budgetary impropriety, failure to present the 2026 Appropriation Bill to the assembly, unauthorised expenditure of public funds, withholding of statutory allocations to the legislature, and other acts deemed to constitute gross misconduct.
The development marks the next procedural step in the ongoing impeachment proceedings initiated on January 8, when the assembly served notices on Fubara and Odu.
The lawmakers had launched Fubara’s impeachment process after Major Jack, leader of the assembly, read gross misconduct charges against the Governor, which were signed at the time by 26 legislators.
Also, on Friday four members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who recently withdrew from Fubara’s impeachment process have reversed their decision and declared support for the process.
The lawmakers are the Minority Leader of the House, Sylvanus Nwankwo; Peter Abbey, representing Degema Constituency; Barile Nwakoh of Khana Constituency I; and Emilia Amadi of Obio/Akpor Constituency II.
The lawmakers made the U-turn on Friday during a live broadcast aired from the front of the Rivers State House of Assembly complex, days after publicly calling for an amicable resolution of the political crisis rocking the state.
Nwankwo said, “You will recall that on the 12th day of January 2026, my colleague and I, Honourable Peter Abbey, addressed the press, wherein we made a plea to our colleagues to seek a political solution to this impasse that is going on between the Assembly and the Governor of Rivers State.
“During the pendency of this appeal, we found out that the governor and the deputy governor, they have all employed their media boys and aides to continuously attack the Rivers State House of Assembly instead of seeking for the political solution which we offer, it is on this basis that I, Honourable Sylvanus Nwankwo, and my colleague here, Honorable Peter Abbey, say that the impeachment proceedings should continue.”
Also speaking, Nwakoh and Amadi said they decided to back the impeachment after concluding that the governor and his deputy had shown no willingness to resolve the crisis through dialogue.
Their latest position comes amid growing tensions within Rivers State since 2023.
President Bola Tinubu had intervened several times, including imposing a state of emergency rule in the state, but the political crisis continues to grow.
