The Rivers State House of Assembly has formally served impeachment notices on Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Professor Ngozi Odu, over allegations of gross misconduct.
The development follows the commencement of impeachment proceedings against the governor and his deputy by the Assembly on Thursday.
In separate announcements released on Thursday night, the Assembly confirmed that both officials had been served with the notices.
The notice to the deputy governor was served first, followed by that of the governor about an hour later.
Copies of the impeachment notices were made public by the Assembly, though details of how the documents were served were not disclosed.
The serving of the notices came hours after lawmakers initiated the impeachment process during plenary earlier in the day. It also followed public opposition to the move by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, which rejected the impeachment proceedings against the two leaders, who are members of the party.
This marks the third attempt by the Rivers Assembly to remove Governor Fubara from office since he assumed power in 2023, amid a prolonged political crisis linked to his fallout with his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
The first impeachment effort was launched in October 2023 but was later abandoned following the intervention of President Bola Tinubu, who brokered a peace agreement between Fubara and Wike at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The impeachment notice was formally withdrawn in December 2023 after the agreement was signed.
However, the truce later collapsed, leading to renewed tensions between the executive and the legislature, including the Assembly’s decision to strip the governor of powers to appoint caretaker committees for local government councils.
In March 2025, the Assembly again initiated impeachment proceedings against Governor Fubara and his deputy.
While that process was ongoing, President Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State on March 18, 2025, suspending all elected officials for six months.
Governor Fubara returned to office in September 2025 after the president lifted the emergency rule, following a second peace deal reached in June between the warring factions.
That agreement has also since collapsed, with Wike accusing the governor of breaching its terms.
The renewed political tension comes amid Governor Fubara’s recent defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC, a move widely viewed as an attempt to secure political backing within the ruling party.