The Adamawa State Government says former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is not the target of a chieftaincy reform barring non-indigenes of emirates and chiefdoms from holding council positions in such locations.

The government said on Wednesday, that no particular person is targetted by the new order but it seeks a wholesome leadership in the different emirates and chiefdoms across the state.

A circular directing implementation of the reform is raising dust in and around Adamawa State, with many seeing the reform as being 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 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.

Besides Atiku, many other prominent council members of the Adamawa Emirate come from outside, by virtue of the creation of seven chiefdoms and emirates last year by the state government.

They include a 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 is the Magatakarda 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 as it involves Atiku erupted late on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 when the news broke about the circular of government on the new order.

In the circular which was dated June 20, 2025 but did not become public property till Tuesday, the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Chieftaincy Affairs in the state Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mrs Adama Mamman, said the directive was part of a broader restructuring of traditional institutions following the creation of new emirates and chiefdoms.