By Citizenship Newspaper
A Niger State local government has instituted a legal action to challenge arbitrary reduction of local governmrnts tenure in the state.
To this end, a legal showdown with Governor Mohammed Umar Bago is brewing over tenure reduction as the Independent Electoral Commission (NSIEC) prepares for Council elections by September 2025 in the state.
The Chairman of Chanchaga Local Government, Aminu Yakubu Ladan, has gone ahead to institute a suit against the state government, challenging the controversial reduction of local government tenure from four to three years.
The suit, filed at the Niger State High Court in Minna, seeks a declaration that the action of the state government, allegedly influenced by the Niger State House of Assembly and the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, violates both the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electoral Act, 2022.
In the suit, Yakubu Ladan argues that his mandate, granted by the people through an election conducted in compliance with Section 150 of the Niger State Local Government Law, guarantees him a four-year tenure.
He asserts that the attempt to cut short this tenure undermines the rule of law and is tantamount to a breach of his fundamental right to serve out the full duration of his term in office.
The chairman had prayed the court for several reliefs, including a declaration that the Niger State Government’s action is ultra vires, null, and void.
He sought an injunction restraining the state from dissolving or terminating the tenure of elected local government officials before the expiration of their lawful tenure.
Sources close to the Niger State Government said that the tenure reduction was based on an amendment to the local government law, but critics argue that such changes cannot retroactively affect officials already elected under the previous law.
The Niger State Government and the Ministry for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs are yet to issue an official statement as at the time of filing the report.
