Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is not the focus of a chieftaincy reform that would prevent non-indigenous people from serving on councils in emirates and chiefdoms, according to the Adamawa State Government.
The government stated on Wednesday that the new decree does not specifically target any individual but rather aims to establish a healthy leadership structure in the many chiefdoms and emirates around the state.
Many people believe that Governor Ahmadu Fintiri is using the circular that directs the implementation of the reform to curtail the influence of Atiku, who is from Jada in Ganye Emirate but serves as the council member for 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 chiefdom’s should be self-governing without powerful people coming from outside to dictate for 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 emphasized that the new reform affects not title holders but council members with responsibilities of making far-reaching decisions involving the various traditional institutions.
Since the state government established seven chiefdoms and emirates last year, several other notable council members of the Adamawa Emirate, including Atiku, are foreign-born.
These include former Adamawa State chief judge Justice Nathan Musa, who is known as Wakili Alkalan Adamawa, former Adamawa Speaker James Barka, who is known as Magatakarda Adamawa, and well-known businessman Abdulkadir Aminu Mbamba, who is known as Wali Adamawa.
Mbamba, Nathan, and Barka are from Hong local government areas, which were part of Adamawa Emirate until late last year. However, they are now part of Huba Chiefdom, which gained autonomy when new chiefdoms and emirates were established in November 2024.
When the circular of government on the new order was announced late on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, the long-simmering agitation over Adamawa’s new chieftaincy reform involving Atiku erupted.
The Permanent Secretary of the Department of Chieftaincy Affairs in the state Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mrs. Adama Mamman, stated in the circular, dated June 20, 2025, but not made public until Tuesday, that the directive was a part of a larger restructuring of traditional institutions in the wake of the establishment of new emirates and chiefdoms.
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