LGA Autonomy: Kebbi Assembly Reduces Chairmen Tenure Against Supreme Court’s Judgment

Kebbi State House of Assembly has amended the state’s law regarding the tenure of Local Government Chairmen to three years.

Before the amendment on Friday by the state house of assembly, local government chairmen in the state spent two years in office.

While amending the Local Government Law of 2008 and Other Matters Connected 2024 yesterday the assembly authorised the LGAs chairmen to now remain in office for three years.

The amendment, however, contradicts the judgment of the Supreme Court authorising LGAs chairmen to spend four years in office.

Recall that the apex court had in a landmark judgment on July 11 granting autonomy to the 776 local governments in the country ruled that LGA chairmen must remain in office for four years.

The judgment had attracted jubilations from not a few Nigerians who said the tenure of LGA chairmen will now be guaranteed unlike in the past where state governors remove them from office at will.

The highest court in the country had ruled in the judgment that it’s fair for local government bosses to spend four years in office like the president and state governors in the country, declaring the shortening of LGAs chairmen tenure to less than four year by state governments as  “one tier of government’s inhumanity to another tier of government.”

Speaking to journalists after passing the law, the chairman of the Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Muhammad Dangoje who sponsored the bill said the amendment was necessary to stabilise promote stability and development at the local government levels.

According to him, the law seeks “to provide stability and continuity in local government administration, allowing council members to implement long-term development projects while the second bill establishes the Kebbi State Local Government Service Commission, repealing and re-enacting the Kebbi State Local Government Service Board and this new commission will be responsible for overseeing the management of local government staff, ensuring professionalism and efficiency in service delivery.”

Meanwhile, some legal analysts who spoke with the magazine insist that the Supreme Court is the highest court in the country, that its judgment regarding administration of local government remains sacrosanct.