Plateau High Court Scraps 2 Year Tenure Of Council Chairmen

A Plateau State High Court in Jos has ruled that local government chairmen in the state would now serve a four-year tenure, declaring that the two-year tenure provided by PLASIEC law was inconsistent with Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended).

The chief judge of Plateau State, Hon. Justice David Mann in a judgement delivered yesterday affirmed that the shorter tenure contradicted 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) contradicted Section 7(1) of the Nigerian Constitution, which guarantees a democratically elected local government system.

In its ruling, Mann stated that the shorter tenure undermined 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 the broader constitutional expectations for democratic governance at the grassroots level.

The decision came ahead of the local government election scheduled for September 2026 announced by the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC).