With the removal of Justice Abosi, it is the constitutional role of the governor in line with Section 271(4) of the Constitution to appoint the most senior judge of the Imo State Customary Court of Appeal (CCA) Acting President of the state CCA pending National Judicial Council (NJC) recommendation for a substantive President of the CCA.
A twist appeared on the position last week when the NJC wrote for the removal of Justice Abosi on the findings that he falsely declared his age from 1950 to 1958. The NJC also said that he since he should have retired in 2015, the money due to him for retirement should be deducted for the years he earned Salaries.
Trumpeta learnt that the exit of Abosi has led to fresh struggle for who becomes the Acting or substantive President of the Customary Court Appeal of Appeal.
This newspaper learnt that the most senior judge of Imo CCA is Hon. Justice Christie Anwuka. However it was learnt that there is a pending petition against Justice Anwuka at the NJC which is yet to be determined on alleged corruption and abuse of office when the judge acted as President of the Imo CCA before her removal by Ex-Gov Ihedioha.
Also, recently, before the immediate past Chief Judge of Imo State Hon. Justice Pascal Nnadi retired as the Chairman of Imo State Judicial Commission (JSC), he forwarded the names of Hon. Justice Francis Abosi and the next in order of seniority being Justice Matthew Njoku for NJC appointment.
However, in the last meeting of NJC, the names of Justices Abosi and Njoku were not considered for substantive appointment and the decision on the case against Justice Anwuka was not also handed down. But the Govt is constitutionally mandated to appoint a judge to act as CCA President immediately Justice Abosi’s retirement is done by the state government as recommended by NJC. It is being said in some quarters that Hon. Justice Victor Okorie also stands a chance as he became a lawyer and judge the same day with Justice Matthew Njoku. But according to the tradition of the legal profession, Justice Njoku ranks higher according to alphabetical order of the first letter of his surname. Also, having become a magistrate many years before Justice Okorie and having had his name earlier submitted to NJC with that of Abosi which was done according to order of seniority. On the other hand Justice Okorie’s advantage is that he is from Orlu Zone where the Gov, Chief Judge and Attorney General of Imo State come from.
From grapevine, Justice Okorie was a law school room mate to the current Attorney Gen of Imo State.
