A political analyst, Chukwuma Iruba has explained that the impeachment move against the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and the Deputy Governor, Ngozi Odu by the state House of Assembly will not fly.
Iruba in a statement on Saturday argued that the impeachment proceeding is already statue barred, asserting that every impeachment proceeding is time bound.
He pointed out that the Supreme Court has consistently held that impeachment proceedings required strict compliance with the provisions of the constitution.
“By virtue of Section 188(5) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the chief judge shall at the request of the speaker of the House of Assembly appoint a panel of seven person within seven (7) days of the passing of a motion for impeachment.
“Recall that the Rivers State House of Assembly moved the motion to impeach Governor Fubara and his deputy on January 8, 2026.
“Thus, the chief judge of Rivers State has seven days to appoint the panel of seven persons to investigate the allegations at the request of the speaker of the House of Assembly.
“It is also on record that it is only on January 16, 2026, that the speaker of the Rivers State House deemed it fit to request the chief judge of Rivers State to appoint the said panel.
“A simple arithmetic of calculating the days from January 8, 2026 to January 16, 2026, will give you at least eight clear days,” he argued.
In line with the above analysis, Iruba maintained that the request to the state chief judge by the speaker of the House of Assembly is already statute barred together with the powers of the chief judge to appoint a panel to investigate the purported allegations.
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“Therefore, any action taken by the chief judge of Rivers State and or the River State House of Assembly on the impeachment proceedings going forward has become unconstitutional, illegal, null and void and of no effect, and liable to be set aside; because the impeachment proceedings is now statute barred and cannot be resurrected.
“Assuming without conceding that the seven days time, within which the chief judge has to appoint a panel to investigate the allegations is still running; by virtue of the interim order of court restraining him from so doing, which shall last for seven days, and shall end on the January 23, 2026, being the date the case was adjourned to, thus the seven days granted the chief judge of Rivers State to appoint the panel of investigation under the constitution would have also elapsed,” he added.
The analyst contended that the speaker of the state House of Assembly, killed the impeachment proceedings with his own hands by not acting within the time frame as prescribed by the constitution.
“He shot himself on the foot. He has himself to blame. The battle is over forever. Congratulation to Governor Fubara and his deputy,” Iruba enthused.
