Kaduna State Government has set up a white paper drafting committee on the reports of the Justice Rahila Cudjoe Commission of Inquiry into the Zangon-Kataf riots of February and May 1992 and that of the Zangon-Kataf Reconciliation Committee, chaired by Air Vice Marshall Usman Muazu, a former military governor of the state.
A statement today, June 29, by Muyiwa Adekeye, the spokesman of Governor Nasir el-Rufai, said: “Kaduna State Executive Council has resolved to find a permanent solution to the perennial crises that keep erupting in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area.”
Muyiwa Adekeye said that the recommendations in both the Cudjoe Commission of Inquiry and Muazu’s reports had not received comprehensive response or attention.
“Violent clashes broke out in Zangon-Kataf LGA on 11th June, 2020, between two communities that were reportedly disputing over ownership of farmlands whose place in the conflict is mentioned in the 1992 and 1995 reports.
“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.
“In the May 1992 riots, the death toll increased, with 1,528 persons killed in Zangon-Kataf and 305 others in Zaria, Ikara and other parts of the state to which the rioting spread.
“But 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.
“On 30th November 1994, the military administrator of Kaduna State, Colonel Lawal Jafar Isa, appointed the Committee for Reconciliation and Search for Peace in Zangon-Kataf community, under the chairmanship of AVM Usman Muazu, himself a former governor of the state, with equal representation from the Atyap and Hausa communities.
“The AVM Muazu Reconciliation Committee could not resolve three burning issues, including ownership of disputed farmlands, release of White Paper on the report of the Cudjoe Commission of Inquiry and the release of detainees.”
The governor’s spokesman said that following skirmishes in the area, a week earlier, disputes over the same farmlands again led to outbreak of violence and killings in Zangon-Kataf and Kauru LGAs on Thursday, 11th June 2020.
“This compelled the state government to impose a 24-hour curfew on the two LGAs, to contain the crisis and enable the return of law and order.
“It is unacceptable that one of the factors identified by the Justice Cudjoe Commission as an immediate cause of the 1992 carnage in Zangon-Kataf is still a trigger for murder and unlawful conduct, 28 years after that tragedy.
“Therefore, the Kaduna State Government considers it vital for the promotion of peace and harmony and the rule of law that a comprehensive position be taken on the recommendations of the Justice Cudjoe Commission and the AVM Muazu Reconciliation Committee.
“The first step in this process is the constitution of a committee to draft a White Paper on the reports for the consideration of the Kaduna State Executive Council.”
The eight-member committee include Adamu Mansur, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Human Services; Chris Umar, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice; and Abdullahi Sani, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs.
Others are Habiba Shekarau, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Development; Ibrahim Jere, Permanent Secretary, Public Service Office; Phoebe Yayi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education; Aisha K. Mohammed, Permanent Secretary, Civil Service Commission; and Bulus Audu, Senior Special Assistant at the Kaduna Geographic Information Service (KADGIS).
