In Alma 62:12, Mormon records that "Moroni and Pahoran, leaving a large body of men in the land of Zarahemla, took their march towards the land of Nephihah, being determined to overthrow the Lamanites in that city."
According to E. L. Peay, there seemed to be an urgency in retaking the city of Nephihah as soon as the city of Zarahemla wa secured. Moroni did not return to the command of his own troops on the eastern front. Nor did Pahoran stay at the judgment seat to serve as governor of the land as we might expect. Instead, together they set out to retake the city of Nephihah.
One might ask, Why did these two highest ranking men in the land immediately put their efforts into retaking the city of Nephihah? Since Pahoran took a personal interest in the city of Nephihah, it leads Peay to believe that his relatives lived there. The city appears to have been built at the end of his father's term in office. Pahoran's father, Nephihah, was the second chief judge of the land of Zarahemla during the time that they began to establish the city of Nephihah (see Alma 50:14). Since the Nephites named their cities after the man who first possessed the land, then the name Nephihah becomes a link to Pahoran's father.
Moroni's interest could have been similar for the same reasons. The people of the city of Moroni had fled that city to the city of Nephihah. This means that if Moroni's relatives lived in the city of Moroni, they were now in the city of Nephihah under bondage of the Lamanites. [E. L. Peay, The Lands of Zarahemla: Nephi's Land of Promise, pp. 81-82]