The latest ammendment by the Anambra State House of Assembly on the State Electoral (Amendment No 3) Law 2024 has finally pegged the tenure of Local Government Chairmen and Councillors to two years.
The State lawmakers passed the latest amendment on the Anambra State Electoral Law for the third time in 2024, during a plenary on Thursday in Awka.
Not comfortable with the previous versions of the Electoral law and faces with a race against time, the lawmakers wasted no time in rushing the Amendment No 3 Bill 2024 through First, Second and Third readings before subsequently getting it passed into law.
The exercise was performed, in accordance with the Standing Order of the House in Order 74, clause one where the rule allows the three readings to be completed in one day with the approval of a two-third majority of the members present.
During the debate for Second Reading, the Chairman House Committee on Public Petitions, Barr Obi Nweke had explained that the amendment became necessary so as not to create a lacuna in the future in the state Local Government system.
Nweke said: “There is a lacuna in legislative business. The first one we did today was to recapture the tenure of the entire council for a period of two years.
According to him, the second amendment was just a typographical error which referred to section 23 and 24 instead of 24 and 25.
“It’s just a minor amendment to ensure clarity for the entire local government council to avoid ambiguity that may lead to unnecessary litigations.”
“The amendment was effected on Section 110 of the Principal Law, where a new subsection 4 was inserted to show clarity in the parent law, and which seeks to dissolve the local government Council at the expiration of a period of two years, commencing from the date of inauguration of the council.
“In the parent law, the tenure of Chairman and deputy was specified as two years excluding Councillors. But this one captured all of them.”
The Speaker of the House, Rt Hon Somtochukwu Udeze said the law shall be cited as Anambra State Electoral Law No 3 2024 and shall take effect on the 12th day of Sept 2024.
Meanwhile, the latest amendment to the State Electoral law was effected by the State Assembly barely 16 days to the local government elections scheduled for September 28, 2024. T
