Ebonyi Governor Tells Council Chairmen: Lose Your LG to APC Rivals, Lose Your Job
Ebonyi State Governor Francis Nwifuru has issued a stark warning to newly inaugurated local government chairmen, threatening removal from office if they fail to secure victory for the APC in their areas during the 2027 elections. The governor emphasized their critical role in voter mobilization and urged a 100 percent vote for the ruling party. Vice-chairmen were also advised on their supportive and preparatory roles, with examples of political progression highlighted.
Ebonyi Governor Francis Nwifuru has given the newly inaugurated chairmen of the state's 13 local government areas a blunt assignment ahead of the 2027 elections: deliver your council to the APC or risk being removed.
Nwifuru issued the warning on Tuesday in Abakaliki during the swearing-in of the chairmen and their deputies.
He said any chairman whose local government fails to deliver victory for the All Progressives Congress would be removed and replaced with a councillor.
“I want this information to be on the headlines of newspapers because, as politicians, we would not speak in secret,” Nwifuru said.
He also told the chairmen not to allow opposition parties to gain ground in their councils, calling on them to deliver a 100 percent vote for the APC in 2027.
The threat is political. The power to sack them is another matter
Nwifuru's message was clear, but there is a legal question hanging over it.
The chairmen were elected to run the councils. That means a governor cannot necessarily remove them simply because their local government votes against his party.
Legal practitioner Obioma Ezenwobodo told Premium Times that Nwifuru does not have the unilateral power to sack an elected council chairman.
He said councillors can impeach a chairman through the process provided under Ebonyi's local government law.
That distinction matters.
A governor can put enormous political pressure on council officials, but a political instruction is not automatically a legal power of removal.
Why Nwifuru is putting the pressure on
The 13 chairmen were only recently inaugurated after the state's local government elections.
Now Nwifuru wants that grassroots structure carried into the 2027 general elections.
The chairmen are therefore being asked to do more than run their councils. They are expected to mobilise voters and protect the APC's dominance in their local government areas.
Timothy Nwachi, chairman of Afikpo Local Government Area, responded on behalf of the new chairmen by promising a “landslide” victory for the APC in 2027.
It puts local government autonomy back in the spotlight
The episode also touches on a much older issue in Nigerian politics: how independent are local governments from state governors?
The Supreme Court's 2024 ruling strengthened the constitutional case for local government autonomy, particularly over their finances.
Nwifuru's remarks bring that tension back into view.
If an elected council chairman can be threatened with removal for failing to deliver votes for the governor's party, it raises questions about how independent local government officials can really be from state political structures.
For now, the chairmen have accepted the challenge.
The real test will come in 2027 — at the ballot box and, potentially, in the courts if Nwifuru tries to act on his warning.