Imo State-based lawyer and activist, Chinedu Agu, has raised the alarm over an alleged attempt by the Imo State Government to mobilise the six NBA Branch Chairmen in the state in connection with the appointment of a substantive Chief Judge, amid claims of a purported ₦350 million financial package being dangled as Annual General Conference support.
Agu, in a strongly worded statement issued on Sunday, alleged that the reported arrangement would see ₦100 million given to the branch whose Chairman allegedly leads the charge, while the remaining five branches would receive ₦50 million each.
The alleged mobilisation, according to the lawyer, is reportedly aimed at securing a joint position from the six NBA Branch Chairmen, who would then write to the National Judicial Council (NJC) urging it to hasten the appointment of a substantive Chief Judge for Imo State and bring the current acting arrangement to an end.
What appears, on the surface, to be a routine call for the appointment of a substantive Chief Judge has, however, been described by Agu as a potentially dangerous intervention capable of distorting the facts surrounding the controversy.
The lawyer argued that such a letter, if issued in the name of Imo lawyers, could create the impression that the NJC is responsible for the delay in appointing a substantive Chief Judge.
According to him, that narrative would be misleading because the issue, as he sees it, arises from the process being undertaken by the Imo State Judicial Service Commission, which he alleged has been skewed in a manner that excludes the most senior Judge.
Agu further warned that any attempt to portray the continued acting arrangement as inherently unacceptable could equally send the wrong message, particularly in light of the NJC’s position that the most senior Judge should continue to act as Chief Judge until the process for appointing a substantive Chief Judge is concluded.
The controversy therefore strikes at a sensitive fault line between the independence of the Bar, the integrity of the judicial appointment process and the relationship between the NBA and government.
At stake is not merely the identity of the next substantive Chief Judge of Imo State, but also the question of whether NBA Branch Chairmen can legitimately speak for the entire legal profession on such a politically and institutionally sensitive matter without a clear mandate from their members.
Agu was particularly emphatic that no communication arising from the alleged mobilisation should be presented as the collective position of Imo lawyers.
He specifically disowned the reported position on behalf of NBA Owerri, stating that the proposed letter does not represent the branch’s position and questioning whether the other NBA branches in the state have similarly authorised the alleged move.
The allegation of a ₦350 million financial package has not been independently established, and no evidence of any payment or formal offer was contained in Agu’s statement. However, the claim has injected a dramatic new dimension into the controversy and is likely to intensify scrutiny of any meeting, correspondence or initiative involving the six NBA branches and the State Government.
For the moment, the spotlight is firmly on the six Branch Chairmen.
Will they speak collectively for Imo lawyers? Has any decision been taken to write the NJC? And, perhaps most importantly, has any financial support been offered in connection with the proposed initiative?
Those questions now hang over the Imo Bar as lawyers watch closely for the next move.
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Something is brewing in the Imo Judiciary, and lawyers should be paying attention.
Rumour has it that the State Government is mobilising the six NBA Branch Chairmen in Imo in a move that could spell trouble for the Imo Judiciary, allegedly dangling ₦350m dressed up as AGC support to make it happen: ₦100m for the Branch that leads the charge, and ₦50m each for the other five.
The reported plan is for all six Chairmen to sign a letter to the NJC, supposedly on behalf of lawyers across Imo, urging the Council to hasten the appointment of a substantive Chief Judge and end the acting regime.
Sounds harmless, right? Not quite.
Such a letter risks creating two false impressions. First, that the NJC is responsible for the delay, rather than the Imo JSC, whose process is skewed to exclude the most senior Judge; and second, that the Acting regime is itself undesirable, effectively contradicting the NJC’s clear position that, until the process for appointing a substantive CJ is concluded, the most senior Judge shall continue to act.
This letter must not be signed in the name of Imo Lawyers. This letter must not also be sent in our name. It is not the position of NBA Owerri. I doubt if it is also the position of other branches in Imo.
Imo lawyers are watching. The legal community is awake. _Oke anaghị eri ihe onye mụ anya!_
I will leave the 6 Chairmen with these immortal words of Achebe: “One of the truest tests of integrity is blunt refusal to be compromised.”
Chinedu Agu
16 August 2026
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