Abuja area councils can only hold election 2026 – INEC
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday said the tenure of the incumbent chairmen and councillors of the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) will expire in June 2026.
INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu clarified this at a meeting of the commission with the leaders of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) FCT chapter, led by the council’s national chairman, Yusuf Dantalle.
The delegation was at INEC to seek the commission’s clarification on the tenure of the current officers of the six area councils as well as the 62 councilors in the FCT.
He said, based on the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended), the current elected executives of FCT area councils have four-year tenure.
Yakubu said INEC had earlier received inquiries from some law firms, an individual, a political party and one FCT Chairmanship Aspirants’ Forum regarding the tenure of FCT area councils and demands for the Commission to release timetable for the elections.
He said that the inquiries were based on the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) which was the subsisting law at the time the area council elections were held on Feb. 12 2022.
“The Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) provides for a three-year tenure for Chairmen and Councillors which, in their opinion, expires 2025.
“However, Nigerians are aware that the National Assembly has since repealed and re-enacted the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) as the Electoral Act 2022.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 Feb. 25 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 June 14, 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,’’ Yakubu said.
The INEC chairman said tenure was 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.
He said, “The Constitution empowers INEC to hold elections not earlier than 150 days and not later than 30 days before the end of tenure of incumbent officers.
“In the case of the FCT, Section 108(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 under which the current Chairmen and Councillors were sworn in on 14th June 2022 is clear and therefore unambiguous:
“(1) An Area Council shall stand dissolved at the expiration of 4 years commencing from the date:
(a) When the Chairman took the oath of office; or (b) when the legislative arm of the Council was inaugurated whichever is earlier”.
Yakubu added that there were several judicial authorities; including the judgement of the Supreme Court that tenure begins from the date of oath of office and not the date of election.
“The Law Firms that have written INEC on behalf of their clients ought to have drawn their attention to both the law and judicial pronouncements on the matter.
