Court grants 4-year tenure for Plateau LG chairmen
Plateau State High Court Affirms Four-Year Tenure for Local Government Chairmen
The Plateau State High Court has ruled in favor of local government chairmen, endorsing their request for a four-year tenure. The court’s decision, handed down on Friday, invalidates the two-year tenure stipulated in existing state laws.
Seventeen local council chairmen initiated legal action against the Plateau State government and the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) seeking the extension. They argued that the two-year term was a violation of the Nigerian Constitution.
In a landmark judgment, Chief Judge Justice David Gwong Mannin stated that the two-year tenure provision is inconsistent with Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended). The ruling also highlighted that this shorter term contradicts the constitutional provisions that safeguard a democratically elected local government system.
Justice Mannin emphasized that the two-year limitation undermines the constitutional framework for local government administration. He asserted that the four-year tenure aligns the local government chairmen’s positions with the wider constitutional expectations for democratic governance at the grassroots level.
