Igbo lawyers under the aegis of Otu Oka Iwu (Law Society) have asked the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun to halt the ongoing exercise for appointment of Court of Appeal justices due to alleged marginalization of the South East geo-political zone.

In a strongly worded complaint addressed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria and titled “COMPLAINT ON THE APPOINTMENT EXERCISE FOR JUSTICES OF THE COURT OF APPEAL AND THE APPARENT MARGINALISATION OF THE SOUTH EAST ZONE IN THE PROCESS,” the association also faulted the exclusion of applicants from all South-East States except Ebonyi State from the appointment process.

Signed by the body’s President, Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, and Secretary, Mr. Ben Ihesiulo, the Otu Oka Iwu argued that the exclusion violated the express directives of Justice Kekere-Ekun as well as statutory notices issued on the appointment exercise, urging the Chief Justice of Nigeria to ensure that the appointing authorities do not ride roughshod over her directives.

Arguing that the entire process has been brought into disrepute by the longstanding marginalization of the South-East, Otu Oka Iwu wrote: “We respectfully urge Your Lordship to put on hold the ongoing appointment exercise for Justices of the Court of Appeal due to the discrepancies that have impugned the process, not least some manifest infraction of very clear directives of Your Lordship.”

On the directive by the Chief Justice of Nigeria that only one vacancy should be filled for the South East geo-political zone as against two vacancies for the other geo-political zones of the country, the body wrote:

“We respectfully consider this direction as highly unfair to the zone, considering that as at November 2025, the South East Zone had the least (ten) Justices at the Court of Appeal than any other zone. It is instructive that the North East, North Central and South South geo-political zones had 13 (thirteen) justices while the North West and South West geo-political zones had 16 (sixteen) Justices at the Court of Appeal as at November 2025.”

Listing all the justices of the Court of Appeal by geo-political zone, the influential association argued that “It is clear from the above that it is the South East that deserves more — and not less — slots in the ongoing appointment exercise.”

Turning to the exclusion of most applicants from South-East States from the appointment process, the body observed that the Notice issued by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice M. B. Dongban-Mensem (CFR, JP) pursuant to the CJN’s directive “explicitly” stated that the entire South-East geo-political zone was allotted one vacancy.

Noting that the directive by the Chief Justice of Nigeria that the solitary slot should be reserved for all South East applicants “was manifestly violated during the appointment process,” Otu Oka Iwu observed that “The exclusion or micro-zoning manifestly contradicts the Public Notice earlier issued on the appointment exercise vide some national newspapers which invited applicants from ALL the South East States to apply for the vacancies.”

The body noted that all the 5 States in the South-East Zone have 2 equal slots at the Court of Appeal, adding that “It is highly worrisome that, having put applicants from the other South East States through the very arduous application process, they were curiously excluded from the exercise mid-stream.”

The body urged Justice Kekere-Ekun “to put the ongoing appointment exercise on hold” and direct “That the manifest injustice to the South-East geo-political zone be addressed by giving the Zone at least 2 additional slots to bring it to 13.”

“Otherwise, at the completion of the ongoing exercise, the South West and North West zones will have 18 (eighteen) slots at the Court of Appeal while the South East zone will have a meagre 11 (eleven) slots. This will do a grave injustice to and manifestly contradict the contention in the above-stated Notice of the President of the Court of Appeal as issued under Your Lordship’s direction to the effect that the advertised vacancies are “based on regional balance.

“Given the earlier direction of Your Lordship that the vacancy for the South East zone is reserved for the entire zone, we respectfully urge Your Lordship to put the ongoing exercise on hold and direct a high-level investigation into the circumstances surrounding the impugning and disobedience of Your Lordship’s direction.”

The complaint was copied to several top judicial and appointing officers and entities including the President of the Court of Appeal; all members of FJSC; all Members of NJC; Attorney-General of the Federation; President of the Nigerian Bar Association; Chairman of the Federal Character Commission, and Secretary, Federal Judicial Service Commission.

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