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Plateau State High Court has ruled in favour of local government chairmen, granting their demand for a four-year tenure.
It nullified the present two-year tenure as contained in the laws of the state.
The 17 local council chairmen had dragged the state government and the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission, PLASIEC, to court seeking an extension of their tenure from two years to four years, citing a breach of the Nigerian Constitution.
In a landmark judgement delivered on Friday by the state Chief Judge, Justice David Gwong Mannin, the court declared that the two-year tenure provided by the laws of the state and PLASIEC is inconsistent with Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended).
The judgment also affirmed that the two-year tenure of the council chairmen contradicts constitutional provisions guaranteeing a democratically elected local government system.
While delivering the ruling, Justice Maninn held that the two-year tenure contradicts sections of the Nigerian Constitution that guarantee a democratically elected local government system, noting that the shorter tenure undermines the constitutional framework for local government administration and therefore cannot stand in the face of the constitutional provision.
The judge declared that the four-year tenure granted the elected local government chairmen in the state, aligns their position with the broader constitutional expectations for democratic governance at the grassroots level.
