‘Madam Justice’, Chioma Nwosu-Iheme Goes To Supreme Court

By Charles Igbo

On Wednesday, December 6, 2023, “Madam Justice”, the Honourable Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme, PhD, was alongside 10 other Judges of the Court of Appeal, recommended to President Bola Tinubu for elevation to the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

The other Judges recommended with her for elevation to the Supreme Court by the National Judicial Council, NJC, during its 104th Meeting on December 6, 2023, where it considered the list of Candidates presented by its interview Committee are:

*Hon. Justice Jummai Hannatu Sankey, OFR.

*Hon. Justice Chidiebere Nwaoma Uwa.

*Hon. Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani.

*Hon. Justice Moore Aseimo Adumein.

*Hon. Justice Obande Festus Ogbuinya

*Hon. Justice Stephen Adah

*Hon. Justice Habeeb Adewale Abiru

*Hon. Justice Jamilu Yammama Tukur

*Hon. Justice Abubakar Sadiq Umar

*Hon. Justice Mohammed Baba Idris.

A number of Justice Nwosu-Iheme’s friends who know her story call her Madam Justice  It is a name which at once brings pain, but pain which eventually turned to laughter and praises to God.

The name was given to her  by blood thirsty gunmen who kidnapped her in Benin on October 30, 2019.

At the time of her abduction by the gunmen, she was the Presiding Judge of the Benin Division of the Court of Appeal. The gun-toting men were vicious. They shot and killed her Police Orderly – an Orderly she still mourns, and whose nuclear family’s responsibilities she took over, thereafter.

Due to her carriage, even in the face of the dangerous and vulnerable position she found herself, the gunmen, treated her with absolute respect without knowing her identity. A day later when her abduction made the headlines in both the conventional and non-conventional medium, the gunmen became aware of her identity. Thereafter, they began to treat her with both respect and reverence.

They bought her new bedsheets and new towels and new wrapper, and began to call her “Madam Justice.” When she told the story of her two-weeks experience in the hands of the kidnappers, a few of her relieved friends began to, jokingly, call her “Madam Justice.”

Nobody who has followed the career progression of the Honourable Justice Nwosu-Iheme would express surprise that she finally made it to the Supreme Court of Nigeria. She is as fearless, courageous as she is professional.

Her name entered national consciousness when, as a Judge of the Imo State High Court, she handled the tough and dangerous case of the “Otokoto Saga” which shook Imo State to its foundation. Recall that it was the case of a minor who hawked ground nuts in the Amakohia area of Owerri, but was lured into the then bustling “Otokoto Hotel” by criminals, who killed him, beheaded him, and buried his headless body on the Hotel premises. While a couple of Judges washed their hands off the case and refused to handle it, the then young Justice Nwosu-Iheme took it up.

Nwosu-Iheme was first appointed a Judge of the Imo State High Court in 1995. In 2008, she was elevated to the Court of Appeal and has headed a number of the Court’s Divisions. She is the first female Nigerian Judge to earn a PhD in Law. She is, also, the second female Judge from Imo State to be appointed to the Supreme Court. The first was the Honourable Justice Mary Peter-Odili.

Justice Nwosu-Iheme hails from Nkwere, Imo State. She is married to Hon. (Chief) Uzoma Nwosu-Iheme, a very successful businessman and entrepreneur. Their marriage is blessed with equally very successful children, including her only daughter, a Medical Doctor (an Oncologist). One of her twin boys, Uzoma, is married to Hon. Justice Njide Nwosu-Iheme, the last child of the former Rivers State Governor, Dr Peter Odili and his wife Honourable Justice Mary Odili Peter-Odili, JSC, rtd.

The Supreme Court which has only 10 Supreme Court Justices, presently, will, for the first time, have its full complement of 21 Judges when the 11 new recommended Justices are sworn in.