By Kelechi Mejuobi
Lately, the Ministry of Justice in Imo State has been trending over a seeming lubberly growth.
In the history of the state created in 1976, even in the old Imo State where present Abia and some areas of Ebonyi states were part of it, this period is an awful moment for the government establishment in charge of justice.
Never in the trajectory of the state has that sector of government concerned with the judiciary got enmeshed in such dramatic meltdown rubbishing judicial officers in the state service.
It started first with the removal of the state Chief Judge, Chief Justice Theresa Chiekeka. She was sent packing out of office as number one judge of the state based on provisions of the Nigeria Judicial Council, NJC, who requested Governor Hope Uzodimma to dispense with her services. Very embarrassing to the bragging rights of the state in the law profession, the scandal was a forebearer to other distasteful exposures demeaning the most cherished sector in recent times.
Chiekeka had encountered severe encumbrances first from a Non Governmental Organisation, NGO, who not only accused her of age falsification but also wrote to the Imo State House of Assembly to recommend her sack from office. Undaunted in the struggle to avoid a stain in her career, Chiekeka ambushed the state lawmakers by going to court to stop their action. But the NJC delivered a devastating blow which prompted Uzodimma to sack her amidts punishement from the judges’ regulatory body.
She was asked to make refunds for entitlements earned within the period she would have called it quits from service based on age.
The removal of Chiekeka may have instituted upheavals in the state judiciary as her successor, Justice Theophilus Nnamdi Nzekwu was served with disappointment after being sworn in. The pomp and pageantry which trailed his appointment was a pyrrhic victory. It became an empty success for him when the same NJC cut short the quantum of congratulatory messages which came his way with an announcement which asked the governor to do away with him.
Moments Nzekwu’s name was announced and he took oath of office, ferocious tackles from certain bodies again pushed for his removal on the account that he was not constitutionally entitled to the position based on seniority. NJC struck again in Imo Judiciary and he was out. Imo State government agreed to go by the way of the regulatory body and Nzekwu’s dream of CJ of the state aborted.
Meanwhile, the dust raised by the ouster of the new acting Chief Judge, Nzeukwu could not rest when reports filtered in that about 19 judges from the State were in trouble. Reason, they were faced with charges of age falsification with the NJC. Further reports available have it that they met with NJC investigation team over the allegations of tampering with their ages while in the service to gain undue advantage and favours for appointment as judges. The State Judicial Service Commission in Owerri admitted that 19 judges were currently being investigated for age alterations, even as the commission claimed to be unaware of those involved. The commission in charge of the judiciary in Imo State expressed shock when reports from Law School/Council of Legal Education disclosed that as many as 19 judges including the very young and brilliant judges were involved in the act. Meanwhile, of the 24 judges in Imo, 19 of them are the ones facing the probe, indicating something is wrong. As a way out, the NJC has authorised governor Uzodimma to appoint ten judges.
The investigation of the accused I9 Imo State judges was sequel to a petition to the judges’ umbrella body by the Civil Society Engagement Platform, (CSEP).
While awaiting the outcome of the age falsification scandal and consequences therein, the NJC again fired another salvo to the state judiciary by asking the President of the Customary Court of Appeal in Imo State to explain reasons why disciplinary actions won’t be against him for presiding over the selection process that saw to the emergence of Nzeukwu as the Acting Chief Judge. According to the NJC, the action is in contrast to the rules of presiding over such selection process. Nzekwu was appointed on acting Chief Judge over Justice Ijeoma Agugua who was previously an acting Chief Judge between (2020 and 2021) Justice Ononeze Madu and Justice E.O. Agada.
In the midst of the crisis, the State Governor, Hope Uzodimma came with a suprise bang; sacking the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, C.O.C Akaolisa. As if the governor is very familiar with one of the hit songs of famed afrobeat musician, Late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti; Overtake Don Overtake Overtake, (ODOO), he dismissed the commissioner from his cabinet.
Uzodimma’s sack of Akaolisa, believed to be one of his strongest ally in the political system for decades was another strong signal that the state judiciary may have been in a mess, rotten and in need of the cleansing.
Even as the statement from the Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba sacking Akaolisa didn’t give reasons for the governor’s move, political stakeholders in Imo State didn’t need a soothsayer to understand something is wrong in the Ministry of Justice, the commissioner supervised before removal.
The troubles bedeviling the judiciary is yet to be over as the raging crisis led to change of the Chief Registrar of the High Court. Fire is on the mountain now as some aggrieved groups comprising an NGO have again rushed to court to seek redress over some actions of the state government in the Ministry of Justice.
The drama causing meltdown in Imo Judicial system is unending as Former NBA Secretary, Chinedu Agu, Esq. institutes a suit challenging the redeployment of the Chief Registrar of the High Court and replacement with Nneoma Chika Ezerioha.
The Incorporated Trustees of Prisons Advocacy and Justice Initiative, a civil society organisation renowned for its rule of law campaigns, instituted a landmark constitutional suit at the Federal
High Court. The suit, marked FHC/OW/CS/44/2025, lists as defendants: the National Judicial Council (NJC), the Governor of Imo State, the Attorney-General of Imo State, the Imo State Judicial Service Commission (JSC), and Mrs. Nneoma Chika Ezerioha, who was recently installed as Chief Registrar of the Imo State High Court under contentious circumstances.
Chinedu Agu, Esq., a former Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Owerri Branch, a public interest litigator and rights activist is piloting the challenge against the State Judicial Service Commission in Imo State.
Though, the State Judicial Service Commission through its spokesperson has kicked against this case, stating that the action of his body is right, but Mr. Agu who is no stranger to judicial reform litigation in this new constitutional onslaught, as the Plaintiff, is seeking wide-ranging declaratory and injunctive reliefs aimed at dismantling what it alleges to be a structurally defective Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and invalidating the actions and appointments arising from its proceedings, especially its controversial May 1st, 2025 meeting which took place on a public holiday, on which day the former Chief Registrar of the Imo State High Court was removed, and a new one appointed.
More interesting to the theatre of absurdities rocking the judiciary sector in Imo State is the claim of the Judiciary Service Commission that a “faceless group of cabals behind the travails” in the judiciary.
Frank Okafor, a civil servant and Director of Information for the Imo Judicial Service Commission, in a statement dated June 13th, 2025 disclosed that the judiciary cabal had infiltrated the judiciary and Owerri branch of the Nigeria Bar Association where they traded judgements for their loyalists as against competence.
One of those the State Judiciary Service Commission accused to be part of the alleged cabals, is Anselm Odinkalu, a university don, accused to have made certain comments that may have exposed ills eating deep into the fabric of the judicial system resulting to the numerous pitfalls witnessed recently.
Odinkalu who was described as an armchair critic for making comments without evidence allegedly called members of the Imo State Judicial Service Commission “petty rogues’ over decisions made in recent times.
While the probe outcome of the 19 judges accused of age falsification is being awaited, a great burden lies ahead for the state governor as he is expected to appoint ten more judges the NJC has permitted him to appoint. More disturbing is how will Uzodimma appoint a new Chief Judge with petitions, rancour and court cases trailing his earlier appointments. The governor needs to make consultations before appointment of a new Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice to enable a cleansing of the justice ministry
Interestingly, the verbal exchanges and revelations of developments in the state judiciary, as well as the pending court cases put a serious question mark on the deliverance of justice in Imo State.
