Residents Storm FCT Minister’s Office Over Court Order Suspending Area Council Chairmen’s Inauguration 

Residents of Abuja on Friday stormed the office of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Mohammed Bello, in protest to the suspension of the inauguration of the newly-elected area council chairmen and councilors across the city. 

The protesters called for swearing-in of the newly-elected persons while faulting a court order that granted the extension of the tenures of the incumbents. 

Speaking during the protest, one of the leaders of the protesters, Shekonlumi Yakubu Adamu, expressed shock at the suspension of the inauguration.

“The chairmen were supposed to be sworn in today, but to our surprise, we woke up on the eve of today, to get a press release from the minister that the swearing-in will not hold today again. We do not know the reason behind that.

“The only reason was that there was a court order restraining the minister from swearing-in the new chairmen because of tenure elongation,” he said. 

Adamu described the court judgment as faulty and fraudulent, adding that they needed explanation as to how it was arrived at. 

“That judgment to suspend the swearing-in is faulty and fraudulent. We need a clearer explanation of why the judge went ahead with the judgment without taking into consideration all the parties involved.”

A member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Joshua Yohanna, who spoke during the protest, advised the incumbent chairmen and councillors to vacate their offices as they were elected under the Electoral Act of 2010.

“We are cautioning the outgoing chairmen and councilors whose tenure under the 2010 Electoral Act upon which they were sworn in will effectively come to an end by the effusion of time on Friday, May 20, 2022, to steer clear of the respective area council offices from that date, if they want peace to reign,” he said.

THE WHISTLER had reported that the minister extended the tenures of council chairmen and councilors by one year based on the court order.

The tenures of the six Area Council Chairmen and Councillors, who were inaugurated on May 20, 2019, are supposed to expire on May 19, 2022.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had inview of the expiration of the tenure of the elected chairmen and councillors conducted elections in the six area councils where chairmen-elect and councils-elect emerged.