The Rivers State High Court has ruled against the elongation of the tenure of the LGA chairmen.
The court ruled that the six-month tenure elongation handed to the LGA executive chairmen by the Martins Amaewhule-led House of Assembly is null and void, unconstitutional and of no effect
The court also declared the Local Government Law No.2 of 2024, whose provisions extended the tenure of local government chairmen as invalid.
It ruling declared the law as inconsistent with the 1999 constitution and section 9 (1) of Rivers State Law No. 5 of 2018 which fixed three-year tenure for local government chairmen and councilors.
The court gave the judgment in a case presented by Enyiada Cookey-Gam and the Governor of Rivers State.
Justice, D.G. Kio the presiding judge, in his judgment, declared that Local Government Law No. 2 of 2024, which extended the chairmen’s terms by six months was in conflict with the 1999 Constitution and Section 9(1) of Rivers State Local Government Law No. 5 of 2018.
The court affirmed that the lawful tenure for the chairmen and councilors remained three years, as stipulated by the 2018 law.
The judge stressed that any attempt to extend the tenure was unlawful and violated the officials’ oath of office.
