ABUJA — The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has restrained the Bayelsa State House of Assembly and its leadership from taking any further steps toward the impeachment of the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Lawrence Oborawharievwo Ewhrudjakpo, pending the determination of a motion on notice before it.
Justice Emeka Nwite, who presided over the matter, issued the order on October 27, 2025, in a ruling on an ex-parte application marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2219/2025, filed by the Deputy Governor through his counsel, Reuben Egwuaba. The suit is against the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, the Speaker of the House, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), the Attorney-General of Bayelsa State, the Chief Judge of Bayelsa State, and the Clerk of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly.
In his motion, Senator Ewhrudjakpo prayed the court to issue an order of interim injunction compelling the defendants to appear and show cause why an injunction should not be granted against them, restraining any impeachment move until the substantive motion is heard and determined.
The Deputy Governor also sought an order restraining the defendants from removing or initiating impeachment proceedings against him in alleged violation of Sections 188 (5–11) and Section 36(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). He argued that any attempt to impeach him on account of his refusal to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) before the end of his constitutionally guaranteed four-year tenure would amount to a breach of his fundamental rights and the Constitution.
Ewhrudjakpo’s motion further prayed the court to restrain the defendants from holding any meeting, sitting, or conference aimed at initiating or igniting impeachment proceedings, and to bar them from recognizing or dealing with any purported appointee from the APC as the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State.
In addition, the Deputy Governor sought orders restraining the Inspector-General of Police, the DSS, and the Attorney-General of Bayelsa State from withdrawing his security details or any other form of official protection pending the determination of the substantive motion.
The motion was supported by a 15-paragraph affidavit deposed to by one Kareem Henry, who averred that the impeachment move was politically motivated following Ewhrudjakpo’s decision not to follow Governor Douye Diri and other top government officials in their alleged defection from the PDP to the APC during a state executive meeting on October 15, 2025.
After hearing arguments from counsel to the plaintiff, Justice Nwite granted prayer one of the ex-parte motion, holding that the defendants must appear before the court to show cause why the interim injunction should not be made absolute.
The judge ruled:
> “An order is hereby made directing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th defendants to appear and show cause why an order of interim injunction should not be granted against them, restraining any move to impeach the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”
The case has been adjourned to November 13, 2025, for hearing of the substantive motion for interlocutory injunction.
Legal observers note that the ruling temporarily halts political tensions in the Bayelsa State Government House, where speculations have been rife about a widening rift between Governor Diri and his deputy following the recent wave of defections in the state’s political landscape.
If the court eventually grants the substantive motion, it could mark a major legal precedent in Nigeria’s constitutional jurisprudence concerning executive loyalty, political defection, and the limits of legislative power in impeachment proceedings.
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