Tenure of FCT Area Council elected officials ‘ll expire June 2026 – INEC

From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has clarified that the tenure of the current chairmen of the six Area Councils as well as the 62 councillors in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will expire in June 2026.
The commission has been inundated with inquiries and demands for the release of the timetable and schedule of activities in anticipation that the area council election will hold this year due to wrong impression that it is still a three-year tenure.
The electoral umpire confirmed that it had earlier received inquiries from some law firms, national and FCT chapter leadership of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), individuals, political parties and one FCT Chairmanship Aspirants’ Forum.
However, reacting formally to the confusions trailing the exact date for the expiration of the tenure, INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, emphasised that the current leadership will be in office till June 2026.
Yakubu hinged the decision on the provision of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), the subsisting law at the time elections to the Area Councils were held on Saturday, February 12, 2022, by the National Assembly that extended the tenure of the Area Councils from three to four years, aligning it with executive and legislative elections nationwide.
In his remarks at a meeting led by the leadership of IPAC on the tenure of the FCT Area Council held in Abuja on Friday, Yakubu said: “In summary, all the inquiries relate to the tenure of the area councils and a demand for the commission to release the timetable and schedule of activities for the Area Council elections.
“Their inquiries are based on the provision of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), which was the subsisting law at the time the elections to the area councils were held on Saturday, February 12, 2022. The Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) provides for a three-year tenure for chairmen and councillors, which in their opinion, expires next year.
“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,” he emphasised.