Nearly three decades after Imo’s judges unanimously agreed that seniority was the surest safeguard against division, a forgotten memorandum has resurfaced at the centre of a fierce battle over who should lead the state’s judiciary.
History has an uncanny habit of returning at the moments it is needed most.
As the controversy over the appointment of a substantive Chief Judge of Imo State continues to divide legal circles, a little-known document signed almost 30 years ago has emerged from the archives with remarkable relevance.
It is not a court judgment, nor a constitutional amendment. Rather, it is a memorandum written on 17 June 1997 by all 18 judges of the Imo State High Court—a collective appeal designed to prevent exactly the kind of succession dispute that has once again engulfed the state’s judiciary.
The memorandum surfaced after legal scholar and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Odinkalu, published it on X (formerly Twitter) while commenting on the current controversy surrounding the appointment of a substantive Chief Judge.
At the time the document was written, Chief Judge Justice G.G.I. Ojiako was preparing to retire after a distinguished judicial career that had seen him move from the High Court to become the founding President of the Imo State Customary Court of Appeal before returning to head the High Court as Chief Judge.
His impending retirement triggered competing ambitions.
Below is the full text of Odinkalu’s post on X.
Nearly 30 yrs ago, the High Court of Imo State was in the middle of a leadership transition. Chief Judge, GGI Ojiako was getting ready to retire. There was a question as to who to succeed him. Justice Ojiako began his judicial career as a judge of the High Court. He was later appointed founding President of the Customary Court of Appeal #PCCA of Imo State, before returning to the High Court to become Chief Judge. To succeed him as PCCA of Imo State, the government appointed Justice CBC Uba. As Justice Ojiako approached retirement, CBC Uba aspired to follow in his footsteps from the office of PCCA to the office of CJ. In the High Court, Justices EA Ejiogu & SO Ekpe were the senior-most. There was serious contest for the office of the CJ & it appeared to be boiling over. To head that off, the judges of the High Court of Imo State arranged a collective huddle in June 1997. The result was a revealing memo to the Military Administrator dated 17 June 1997. They wrote: “All of us are unanimous in the view that when the office of Chief Judge becomes vacant, whoever is the most senior among us the judges of the High Court of Imo State should be preferred to the vacant office. In that way, there will be no rancour or polarization. There will be peace & unity in Imo State judiciary.” Of the 18 judges who signed that memo, only 2 remain in service: No. 17, Justice Nwosu-Iheme, is now a Justice of
@SupremeCourtNg. No. 14, Justice Agugua is the current Ag. Chief Judge whom the current governor of the state wants to supersede a third time for the substantive office of Chief Judge. To complete the original story, Justice Ejiogu eventually became Chief Judge of Imo State. He was followed in that office by Justice Ekpe. CBC Uba eventually achieved his ambition in succession to Ekpe.
The famous memo is contained in the tweet below.
