By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
The Atyap Community Development Association (ACDA), the umbrella body of Atyap natives, has described a petition against His Royal Highness, Agwatyap Sir Dominic Gambo Yahaya, as a deliberate attempt to destabilise peace in Atyap Chiefdom and Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Southern Kaduna.
In a statement signed by its President, Dr. Samuel T. Achie, the association condemned the petition, reportedly authored by a group calling itself “Concerned Residents of Zangon Urban,” which alleged growing injustice and oppression against the Hausa and Fulani communities in the area. ACDA described the allegations as false, provocative, unfounded, and highly divisive.
The group said the petition was a “desperate and malicious” move to tarnish the monarch’s hard-earned reputation and undermine peaceful coexistence, which communities in Zangon Kataf, alongside Governor Uba Sani and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administrations, have worked to maintain over the years.
According to ACDA, the petition’s contents are “manifestly false, inciting, and reckless,” with the potential to trigger ethno-religious tensions in the area. It urged security agencies to identify and prosecute those behind the petition.
Quoting from the circulated petition, ACDA noted the claims that the Agwatyap and some chiefs allegedly denied residents access to farmlands cultivated for over 400 years. The association dismissed these allegations as “baseless and malicious,” stressing that the monarch is widely known, even among Hausa and Fulani residents, for his generosity, fairness, and commitment to peace.
ACDA stated that land ownership in Atyap land, as in other Nigerian communities, is vested in individuals or families, not ethnic groups, and disputes are resolved through traditional arbitration or the courts—not through blackmail or incitement.
The association accused “a few disgruntled elements” of seeking to sow discord and reignite communal violence in Southern Kaduna, vowing to resist such attempts through lawful means. It expressed disappointment that the traditional leadership in Zango Urban District had not reined in those spreading falsehoods, warning that such inaction could be seen as tacit endorsement.
The ACDA demanded an immediate retraction of the petition, calling it inflammatory and libellous, and urged security agencies to investigate and bring the authors to justice before they plunge the area into crisis.
Reaffirming its loyalty to the Agwatyap, the Kaduna State Government, and the Federal Government, ACDA urged all Atyap people and well-meaning Nigerians to disregard the petition in its entirety.
