The process of appointing new judges in Abia State remains stalled due to ongoing litigation, highlighting tensions between judicial bodies, concerns over procedural fairness, and broader questions about the rule of law in Nigeria’s judiciary.
A Federal High Court ex parte order issued in March 2025 has effectively frozen the recruitment exercise, despite a prior ruling from the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) directing the state to proceed with appointments.
Critics argue the situation exemplifies potential abuse of interim orders, echoing warnings from the National Judicial Council (NJC) against such practices.
Members of the Nigerian legal community have been repeatedly warned, most notably by the Chief Justice of the Federation, about the corrosive effect of frivolous ex parte orders on the integrity of the courts. Those warnings, lawyers say, were issued to prevent precisely the kind of institutional paralysis now confronting the judiciary in Abia State.
The controversy stems from a 2022 judicial recruitment exercise in Abia State, where candidates were shortlisted but the process was halted amid disputes.
In August 2024, the NICN, in a judgment delivered by Justice Nelson Ogbuanya, affirmed its jurisdiction over pre-employment matters and ordered the Abia State Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to continue with appointments, upholding the commission’s authority to initiate fresh selections.
The ruling aimed to break a logjam that had left Abia without new judicial appointments since 2021, contrasting sharply with neighbouring Delta State, which has conducted multiple recruitments in the same period, including at least four rounds, leading to fresh postings as recently as 2025.
According court document, the NICN, in its judgment delivered on July 26, 2024, in Suit No. NICN/OW/05/2024 (Attorney-General of Abia State v. Abia State Judicial Service Commission & Ors), upheld the decision of the Judicial Service Commission to conduct a fresh, transparent nomination process for the appointment of judges after concerns arose over the 2022 list produced under allegedly questionable circumstances.
The court dismissed all preliminary objections and counter-claims designed to derail the process, giving judgment in favour of the Chief Law Officer of Abia State and ordering that the fresh exercise proceed.
That judgment of the National Industrial Court has not been set aside.
However, rather than challenge the decision before the Court of Appeal, subsequent proceedings were commenced at the Federal High Court, Umuahia.
In November 2024, two of the 2022 shortlisted candidates, Uzoamaka Uche Ikonne and Victoria Okey Nwokeukwu, filed Suit No. FHC/UM/CS/82/2024 at the Federal High Court in Umuahia, challenging the validity of a new 2024 appointment process.
Representing themselves and other 2022 candidates, they argued that the fresh shortlisting disregarded due process and amounted to self-help during pending litigation.
On March 19, 2025, Justice S.B. Onu granted an ex parte order directing all parties, including the JSC, Chief Judge of Abia State, National Judicial Council, and branches of the Nigerian Bar Association, to maintain the status quo ante bellum pending the hearing of a motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction.
The order, issued after reviewing an affidavit of urgency and written address, fixed the substantive motion for April 1, 2025, and required the plaintiffs to undertake damages if the order was deemed unwarranted.
Following the JSC’s shortlisting of new candidates on March 12, 2025, and a letter requesting comments from NBA branch chairmen who are defendants in the suit, the plaintiffs’ lawyers from Nkume, Nkume & Associates issued a stern warning on March 14, 2025.
The letter, addressed to the JSC chairman via the secretary, accused the commission of contemptuous actions, flagrant disregard for the rule of law, and violation of the lis pendens doctrine, which prohibits actions affecting a matter under litigation.
It cited appellate decisions like Abiodun v. C.J. Kwara State (2007) and INEC v. Youth Party (2023) to underscore the invalidity of steps taken pendente lite, and threatened committal proceedings if further actions were pursued.
The Commission, in its reply, observed pointedly that it was obeying the court order of a court of competent jurisdiction, being the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, whose judgment is still live and subsisting.
Sources further revealed that the reply noted that the Federal High Court lacks the jurisdiction and powers to constitute itself an appellate court to review the decision of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, a court of concurrent jurisdiction and the appropriate court seized with jurisdiction to decide all the issues which were already decided at the NICN but now re-litigated at the Federal High Court, Umuahia Judicial Division.
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