The Adamawa State Government has clarified that the chieftaincy reform barring non-indigenes of emirates and chiefdoms from holding council positions is not targeted at former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Naija News reports that there have been speculations following the circular directing the implementation of the reform.
Some see the reform as Governor Ahmadu Fintiri’s way of whittling down the influence of Atiku, who hails from Jada in Ganye Emirate but holds the council position of Waziri Adamawa in the Adamawa Emirate.
Reacting to the controversy on Wednesday, the state Commissioner of Information, Iliya James, said the reform provides a guide on how the various emirates and chiefdoms should be self-governing without powerful people coming from outside to dictate to them.
“When you have kingmakers for a kingdom coming from outside the kingdom to decide who becomes king, for example, you could one day have the king from outside,” the commissioner said.
He emphasised that the new reform affects not title holders but council members who are responsible for making far-reaching decisions involving the various traditional institutions.
Besides Atiku, several other prominent members of the Adamawa Emirate Council are non-indigenes, a situation resulting from the state government’s creation of seven new chiefdoms and emirates last year.
They include famous businessman Abdulkadir Aminu Mbamba, who holds the title of Wali Adamawa; former chief judge of Adamawa State Justice Nathan Musa, who holds the title of Wakili Alkalan Adamawa; and former Adamawa Speaker James Barka, who holds the title of Agatakarda Adamawa.
Mbamba, Nathan and Barka hail from Hong local government areas which was in Adamawa Emirate before late last year but now belong to Huba Chiefdom after the chiefdom became an autonomous institution by virtue of the the November 2024 creation of new chiefdoms and emirates.
The simmering uproar over Adamawa’s new chieftaincy reform, which involves Atiku, broke late on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, when news about the government circular on the new order went public.
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