A major political showdown has erupted in Anambra State as 56 serving ward councillors have dragged Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s administration to court over the controversial two-year tenure for elected local government officials.
The councillors, in Suit No. A/261/2026 filed before the Anambra State High Court in Awka, are asking the court to declare the law limiting their tenure to two years unconstitutional and to grant them a full four-year term.
Joined in the suit as defendants are the Attorney General of Anambra State, the Anambra State House of Assembly and the Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC).
The lawmakers are challenging Section 110(A) of the Anambra State Electoral (Amendment No. 3) Law, 2024, arguing that it violates Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees a democratically elected local government system.
According to the plaintiffs, the Constitution envisages a secure and stable tenure for elected local government officials and does not permit state authorities to arbitrarily cut short their mandate.
They are asking the court to strike down the controversial section of the state electoral law, describing it as unconstitutional, null and void.
The councillors also want the court to declare that all democratically elected local government chairmen, vice chairmen and councillors in Anambra are entitled to a uniform four-year tenure, similar to elected officials at the federal and state levels.
In addition, they are seeking a perpetual injunction restraining the state government from dissolving or interfering with their tenure after two years.
They also want the court to stop ANSIEC from publishing any election timetable or conducting fresh local government elections until their alleged four-year mandate expires.
The legal action comes barely one month before the scheduled local government elections in Anambra, setting the stage for what could become a landmark constitutional battle over the tenure of elected council officials.
The Anambra State House of Assembly had, in 2024, amended the state’s electoral law to fix the tenure of local government chairmen, deputy chairmen and councillors at two years, a provision now being fiercely challenged in court by the affected councillors.
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