The Atyap Community Development Association, ACDA, has lamooned claims Governor Nasir el- Rufai of Kaduna state that previous administrations in the state did not issue a White Paper on the Justice Rahila Cudjoe Commission of Inquiry on the 1992 Zangon Kataf crisis as well as the AVM Muazu Reconciliation Committee Reports of 1995 on the matter.
The state government, had in a statement by el-Rufai's Spokesman, Muyiwa Adekeys on June 29, 2020, announced the setting up of a White Paper Drafting Committee on the two reports, saying “the State Executive Council has resolved to find a permanent solution to the perennial crises that keep erupting in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area.”
He said the committee was set up following recent clashes in Zangon Kataf and Kauru Local Government Areas in June leading to killings and destructions.
‘’No White Paper was drafted or adopted by the Dabo Lere administration that established the Justice Cudjoe Commission and the Col. Lawal Jafar Isa government that appointed the AVM Muazu Reconciliation Committee” Adekeye had said.
Accorfing to him, “the elected government of Kaduna State, led by Alhaji Dabo Lere, did not produce a White Paper to set out its official position on the recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry.”
However, addressing reporters Thursday in Kaduna, the Secretary General of ACDA, Mr. Sule Bodam pointed out that the government was being economical with the truth because it had a hidden agenda.
Bodam said that on the contrary, the Federal and Kaduna State governments over the years took several far reaching decisions on the recommendations in those reports and implemented them.
His words, “By making such claim that the reports of the Cudjoe Commission and AVM Usman Muazu Reconciliation Committee have not received comprehensive response or attention, the El-Rufai administration seeks to give the wrong impression that previous administrations of the Kaduna State government did not address the recommendations made by both panels.
“On the contrary the Federal and Kaduna state governments over the years took several far reaching decisions on the recommendations in those reports and implemented them.
“It is therefore imperative to clarify these matters for the information of the public, for it is indeed very strange that the el-Rufai government wants to exhume and draft a White Paper on Cudjoe Commission report written 28 years ago, most of the issues of which have been resolved and reconciliation achieved between the Atyap Community and the Hausa Community of Zangon Kataf town.
"The question arises as to what the el -Rufai government seeks to achieve by drafting a White Paper over a report whose recommendations were implemented by the Federal and Kaduna State governments, and on which any other remaining issues have been overtaken by events, unless the El-Rufai administration has other ulterior motives for setting up its White Paper Committee.”
He further pointed out that based on the facts at the disposal of ACDA, “it is manifestly clear that the El-Rufai administration has no justifiable reason to set up another White Paper Drafting Committee when; the recommendations of the Justice Rahila Cudjoe Commission have been fully implemented.”
ACDA stressed that previous administrations in the state had already produced a White Paper from the AVM Muazu Reconciliation Committee report, which was implemented since 1995.
“The only outstanding issues on this White Paper are: the actualisations of the Buffer Zone; the Irrigation Project; the Atak Jei Residential Layout which was produced and approved on April 12, 2010 by the former Governor of Kaduna State which will foster integration in the Community as envisaged by the AVM Usman Muazu Committee,” he added.
