The existing local government and council chairmen’s terms will expire in June 2026, not 2025, as stated by Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEEC), on Friday.
Yakubu clarified that INEC will not hold local council elections in 2025 in order to achieve this goal.
Yakubu stated that instead of the three years specified by the Electoral Act of 2010, the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 (As Amended) regarding the tenure of Area Council Chairmen in the Federal Capital Territory FCT provide a four-year tenure for the Chairmen and Councilors.
At an Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) meeting in Abuja, Yakubu announced that the current chairmen and council members’ terms will end in June 2026.
Yakubu stated that the grounds for their inquiries were found in the terms of the Electoral Act 2010 (as modified), which was in effect on Saturday, February 12, 2022, the day of the Area Council elections.
As said by Yakubu, “Nigerians are aware that the National Assembly has since repealed and re-enacted the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) as the Electoral Act 2022. In particular, in the exercise of its powers as the law-making body for the FCT, the National Assembly extended the tenure of the Area Councils from three to four years, thereby aligning it with executive and legislative elections nationwide.
“This is one of the important provisions of the Electoral Act 2022. The Act came into force on Friday 25th February 2022, two weeks after the last Area Council elections in the FCT. By the time the elected Chairmen and Councillors were sworn in four months later on 14th June 2022, they took their oath of allegiance and oath of office on the basis of the new electoral Act (i.e. the Electoral Act 2022) which provides for a four-year tenure. Consequently, their tenure therefore expires in June 2026.
“For the avoidance of doubt, tenure is not defined by the date of election but the date of the Oath of Office for executive elections or the date of inauguration for legislative houses. For the executive, the tenure belongs to the elected individual while for legislators, the tenure belongs to the Legislature.
“A President/Vice President-elect, Governor/Deputy Governor-elect, Senator-elect, Member-elect, Chairman-elect or Councillor-elect cannot exercise the powers of office and draw from the remuneration attached to it until such a person is sworn-in or the legislative house is inaugurated.”
