26 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly yesterday began proceedings to impeach Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Professor Ngozi Odu, for alleged gross misconduct.
The lawmakers, who are loyal to the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Chief Nyesom Wike, in a notice of impeachment, dated March 14, 2025 and addressed to the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule, accused Fubara Fubara reckless and unconstitutional expenditure of public funds, citing violations of Sections 120, 121 (1)(2), and 122 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended).
The notice, which was signed by all the 26 lawmakers, accused the deputy governor, Odu, of gross misconduct in the performance of her duties, though specific details were not included in the initial notice.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule, has acknowledged the receipt of the notice of impeachment by 26 members of House against the governor and his deputy.
Amaewhule, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt yesterday by his media aide , Martins Wachukwu, said wherein the lawmakers listed five grounds of gross misconduct against the governor and three grounds of Gross misconduct against the deputy with accompanying particulars.
He stated that he received the notice on March 14, 2025, adding that in line Section 188 of the Constitution, he has done the needful by distributing them to members and forwarding them to the holders of the office.
In a swift reaction, the Rivers State government has called on the House of Assembly, to have a rethink about their actions and what it portrays for the people of the state.
Addressing journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday, the commissioner for Information and Communications, Warisenibo Joe Johnson, said Fubara has not left anyone in doubt about his preparedness to comply with the February 28, 2025 judgement of the Supreme Court.
Johnson said: “It is now common knowledge that members of the Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule-led Rivers State House of Assembly have by their actions refused to allow the Governor of Rivers State, His Excellency, Sir (Dr.) Siminalayi Fubara, GSSRS to fully implement the judgment of the Supreme Court on the long drawn political and legal battle that has lingered since after the ill-fated attempt to impeach him on October 30, 2023.
“Right from when this unjustified onslaught against Governor Fubara started, the gentleman has never left anyone in doubt about his unwavering commitment to peace and resolute determination to put Rivers people FIRST over and above personal and/or sectional interests.
“A few days after the Friday, February 28, 2025 shocking judgment of the Supreme Court on the consolidated cases touching on the seizure of federation revenue allocation due the state, annulment of the credible, free, fair and peaceful Local Government elections of Saturday, October 5, 2024, re-presentation of the 2025 budget to the Rt. Hon. Martin Amaewhule-led Rivers State House of Assembly and the most contentious defection issue (which was never before the Apex Court, but surprisingly vaguely touched by the learned jurists of the 5-man panel), Governor Siminalayi Fubara has never left anyone in doubt about his preparedness not only to obey, but fully implement the Supreme Court judgment, no matter the unfortunate and unfavourable outcome.
“Instead of embarking on a futile image laundry by members of the RSHA by wrongly claiming that Governor Siminalayi Fubara who by all intents and purposes is prepared, willing and ready to re-present the 2025 budget and carry out full implementation of all aspects of the bizarre and utterly controversial judgment of the Apex Court for the sake of peace, is being misrepresented and painted in bad colour as not ready to comply with the judgment.
“Should this opportunity to pull the state from the precipice fail, the people and residents of the state without exception are bound to suffer avoidable calamities of economic, social and political upheavals that might sink us deeper into unimaginable crises. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.”
