Goverment to cut LG chairmen tenure to two years
Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti has sent the Abia State Local Government Administration Bill, 2025 to the State House of Assembly, seeking to cut the tenure of local government chairmen and councillors from four years to two years.
The bill, sponsored by the Majority Leader, Hon. Okoro Uchenna Kalu (Arochukwu), passed its second reading and was committed to the House Committee of the Whole for further deliberation.
A section of the proposed law stipulates that the Mayor and Deputy Mayor shall serve for two years and may be re-elected for another two years, but no more.
Similarly, the bill establishes a Congress of Councillors for each local government, which shall stand dissolved after two years from its inauguration.
However, this proposal contradicts a landmark Supreme Court ruling on local government autonomy delivered on May 11, 2024, by Justice Mohammed Garba and six others.
The judgment upheld that local government executives across the country are entitled to a four-year tenure, aligning with the constitutional provision.
Notably, Governor Otti himself swore in Abia’s 17 newly elected local government chairmen on November 4, 2024, under a four-year term, raising questions about the implications of the proposed legislation on their tenure.
