Atyap Community Development Association Faults El -Rufai Reconciliation Committee

“While this could apply to the Cudjoe Commission, it is not true that a White Paper was not produced on the AVM Muazu Committee report. The evidence for the existence of a White Paper on the Muazu Committee Report is in a Press Release by the Office of the Executive Governor of Kaduna State of Nigeria, Ref. No. GH/KD/S/315, dated 4th July 2000.

“The Governor who authorized the issuance of the above referenced document is still both alive and sound. That White Paper is available in Government House Kaduna, and we ask the Government of Governor Nasir Ahmad El Rufai to make the original White Paper on the AVM Usman Muazu Reconciliation Committee public without tampering with the contents.

“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.

“Fifty meters into the Hausa  and fifty meters into the Atyap land making a total of 100 meters.

They also recommended that irrigation project should be established there which both the Atyap and the Hausa community would benefit from Buffer Zone.

“The third one is recommendation of a layout where there is going to be an intergration of both the Atyap, the Hausa and other residents in the community so that if they are living together in one place, then there’s would be that community life and there would be no need to for anybody formenting trouble before any other person because if my house is here, your house is also here, even though we belong to different tribes and different religion, if there is any attack on my house, it will affect your house too. They recommended there should be a layout where people would live together.”

All the recommendation by the Usman Muazu have been implemented except for the 3 mentioned above. And government have even innitiated a process of paying compensation to the owners of land within the Buffer Zone. He said.

“Namadi Sambo administration earmarked N4Million as compensation, they didn’t pay.

“Yakowa’s government increased the money to N40Million, they didn’t pay.

“When this government came on board, they set up a committee which was chaired by Gen. Luther Agwai and that committee also recommended to government to hasten in paying the compensation and start the irrigation project.

“We are saying that if these are done, all the clashes will be avoided because nobody will jump the Buffer Zone and cross into the land belonging to other people.

“We are saying that there is no need for government (El-Rufai) to set another committee because recommendations have been implemented and the other one there is a white paper.