Plateau: Court scraps 2-year local government tenure, restores 4-year term as PLASIEC amends timetable for polls

PLASIEC amends timetable for polls

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From Jude Owuamanam, Jos

A Jos State High Court in Plateau State has ruled that local government chairmen in the state will now serve a four-year tenure.

The court declared that the two-year tenure provided by Plateau State and PLASIEC laws is inconsistent with Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended).

Chief Judge of Plateau State, Hon Justice David Mann, in a judgment delivered on Friday, affirmed that the shorter tenure contradicts constitutional provisions guaranteeing a democratically elected local government system.

The court held that the two-year tenure contained in the laws of the Plateau State Government and the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) is at variance with Section 7(1) of the Nigerian Constitution, which guarantees a democratically elected local government system.

The court further held that the shorter tenure undermines the constitutional framework for local government administration and therefore cannot stand in the face of the constitutional provision.

The judgment effectively grants a four-year tenure to elected local government chairmen in the state, aligning their tenure with broader constitutional expectations for democratic governance at the grassroots level.

The decision comes ahead of the local government elections planned for September 9.

The development comes at a time when the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) has amended the timetable for the conduct of the local government election, giving political parties more time to conduct primary elections.

In a statement signed by its secretary, Pam Gyang Davou, the commission said that the adjustments to the timetable and schedule of activities for the conduct of the 2026 local government elections were necessitated by the repeal of the Electoral Act 2022 and the enactment of the Electoral Act 2026.

Under the revised schedule, political parties will now conduct their primaries from Saturday, 7 March to Tuesday, April 7, replacing the earlier closing date of March 12.