The workload of serving judicial officers in Imo State may remain high till further notice, as Governor Rochas Okorocha is said to have put the appointment of new judges on hold.

A very credible government source which reached Vanguard weekend, disclosed that “the governor has already written the State chairman of the State Judicial Service Commission, JSC, who also doubles as the State Chief Judge, Justice Paschal Nnadi, directing that the processes for the appointment of new judges should be put on hold till further notice.

The same source revealed that “the only person that survived the governor’s current sledgehammer was the Acting President of the State’s Customary Court of Appeal, Justice Christy Anwuka, whose name had earlier been sent to the National Judicial Council, NJC, for confirmation of her appointment.”

According to Vanguard, “sometime this year, Governor Okorocha granted approval for the appointment of new judges to commence in the state, he however, changed his mind and blamed paucity of funds for his current action.”

Our source revealed that as required by the regulations of the NJC, lawyers were invited soon after the JSC received the initial governor’s approval, to apply for appointment.

“The lawyers applied and the serving judges sent in their nominations from the list of candidates who applied. The successful applicants were shortlisted and sent to the JSC, a constitutional body responsible for recommending to the NJC, qualified lawyers to be appointed judges”, the source said.

Vanguard equally gathered that “the shortlisted candidates were screened by the Department of State Security, DSS, and on November 7, 2018, the JSC interviewed the first batch of the applicants.”

•Sourced from Vanguard report