The Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made the clarification at a meeting with the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) on Friday in Abuja, following the agitation for the conduct of fresh elections in the FCT.
According to the INEC Chairman, the tenure of office of the elected officers begins on the date of taking the oath of office, not the date of conduct of the election.
He explained that the National Assembly has since repealed and re-enacted the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) which provided for a three-year tenure for Chairmen and Councillors as the Electoral Act 2022.
In particular, in the exercise of its powers as the law-making body for the FCT, the National Assembly extended the tenure of the Area Councils from three to four years, thereby aligning it with executive and legislative elections nationwide.
“This is one of the important provisions of the Electoral Act 2022. The Act came into force on Friday 25th February 2022, two weeks after the last Area Council elections in the FCT.
“By the time the elected Chairmen and Councillors were sworn in four months later on 14th June 2022, they took their oath of allegiance and oath of office on the basis of the new electoral Act (i.e. the Electoral Act 2022) which provides for a four-year tenure. Consequently, their tenure therefore expires in June 2026,” Yakubu said.
He further explained that in the case of the FCT, Section 108(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 under which the current Chairmen and Councillors were sworn-in on 14th June 2022, is clear and therefore unambiguous.
