In a development of far-reaching constitutional and political consequence, the Presidency has formally affirmed Governor Siminalayi Fubara as the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, while simultaneously cautioning Chief Nyesom Wike against any conduct capable of undermining the interests of the State or imperilling national stability.
More pointedly, the President issued an unequivocal directive that “nobody should obstruct the Governor in the discharge of his constitutional duties.” This presidential intervention is widely interpreted as a direct and emphatic rebuttal of the ongoing machinations by the twenty-six (26) pro-Wike legislators, who are ostensibly engineering a third impeachment plot against Governor Fubara.
In another momentous, and jurisprudentially decisive, development, the Chief Judge of Rivers State, My Lord, Hon. Justice S. C. Amadi, has formally declined the request of the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly to constitute an investigative panel against the Governor. His Lordship grounded this refusal on the existence of a subsisting restraining order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction in Rivers state.
In a carefully reasoned written response to the Speaker’s correspondence, Justice Amadi stated, with admirable fidelity to the rule of law, that he is duty-bound to obey extant court orders and cannot lawfully embark upon any course of action that would amount to a flagrant violation of judicial directives.
His Lordship further drew instructive attention to a notorious historical precedent from Kwara State (2007), where the then Chief Judge proceeded to constitute an impeachment panel in defiance of a subsisting restraining order, an act later roundly condemned by the Court of Appeal. In HON. DELE ABIODUN v. THE HON. CHIEF JUDGE OF KWARA STATE & 3 ORS. (2007) 18 NWLR 109–169, the appellate court not only nullified the entire impeachment exercise but delivered a scathing rebuke, likening the conduct of the Chief Judge to “a chief priest and custodian of an oracle turning around to desecrate the oracle.” The Court emphatically held that the head of the judiciary must be the foremost guardian of the law, not an accessory to its violation.
One cannot help but observe, how many of us have noticed? that our political emperor has abruptly suspended the much-publicised “thank-you visit” and has since retreated into conspicuous silence.
Congratulations to the resilient and discerning people of Rivers State on this remarkable triumph of constitutionalism and institutional sanity. The nation now watches keenly to see what next stratagem will emerge from the busybodies and meddlesome interlopers within the House of Assembly.
@EjioforBar
23rd January, 2026
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