New revelations have emerged that the recently sacked Imo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, C.O.C. Akaolisa, advised Governor Hope Uzodimma to swiftly swear in the fourth in rank senior judge in the state judiciary as Acting Chief Judge in an alleged bid to pre-empt a court suit filed on the same day.
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According to findings by TheNigeriaLawyer, the controversial swearing-in of Hon. Justice Theresa Nzukwu as Acting Chief Judge on April 4, 2025, was executed under the legal direction of Akaolisa, who reportedly told the Governor that installing a sitting Acting Chief Judge would render a pending Order of Mandamus suit against the Governor nugatory.
The suit in question, filed by Barrister Chinedu Agu, sought to compel the Governor to appoint the most senior judge in the state—Hon. Justice Ijeoma Agugua—as Acting Chief Judge in accordance with Section 271(4) of the 1999 Constitution.
Sources within the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) told TheNigeriaLawyer that members were not informed of the swearing-in ahead of time and only learned about it after the ceremony had been concluded. Some commissioners who were in Owerri were reportedly called late in the evening to participate in a group photograph “to avoid the Acting Chief Judge being lonely.”
Investigations suggest that Akaolisa personally organized the swearing-in ceremony and brought in the Solicitor-General and other state legal officers to administer the oath of office on Justice Nzukwu. He is also said to have misled the newly sworn-in judge by claiming that Justice Agugua was ineligible under Section 271(5) of the Constitution—a claim he later repeated in a public statement.
A senior JSC member who spoke under condition of anonymity said:
“It is now clear that the intention was not just to appoint an Acting Chief Judge but to frustrate a valid suit already filed to uphold constitutional order. That is unacceptable, and the Commission was never part of that plan.”
Also, a source told TheNigeriaLawyer that during the just concluded Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Owerri Branch Law Week, the former Attorney General disclosed to the audience that the Governor allegedly brought someone from Abuja into the Imo State Judiciary—a move he claimed has been fueling unrest within the system. He metaphorically described the individual as a “virus” due to the disruption their presence has reportedly caused. According to the source, this revelation ultimately led to the Attorney General’s removal after the Governor got wind of it.
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