Tenure of current FCT Chairmen, Councilors to lapse in June 2026- INEC
Oru Leonard
Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has announced the tenure of the current Federal Capital Territory (FCT), chairmen and councilors would lapse in June 2026. Mahmood Yakubu announced that
Prof Yakubu who disclosed this at a meeting with the Inter Party Advisory Council IPAC on Friday in Abuja asked political parties and other stakeholders to avert their minds to the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 (As Amended) with respect to the tenure of Area Council Chairmen in the Federal Capital Territory FCT, not the three years provided in the Electoral Act 2010
He said the Commission had earlier received inquiries from some Law Firms, an individual, a political party and one FCT Chairmanship Aspirants’ Forum regarding 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.
He explained that the inquiries were based on the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) which was the governing law when the election took place on Saturday 12th February, 2022.
“Nigerians are aware that the National Assembly has since repealed and re-enacted the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) as the Electoral Act 2022.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”, he said.
Prof. Yakubu assured that the Commission would release the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the Area Council elections at an appropriate time as stipulated by law.
The meeting was convened at the instance of the National Chairman of IPAC, Yusuf Mohammed Dantalle, who led the FCT executives to the Commission’s Headquarters.
