Adamawa State Government, on Wednesday, explained why former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has been stripped of the Waziri Adamawa title.
It said the development was not targeted at Atiku but a holistic implementation of reforms on the emirates and chiefdoms.
According to the government, the chieftaincy reform bars non-indigenes of emirates and chiefdoms from holding council positions in such locations.
Atiku hails from Jada in Ganye Emirate but holds the council position of Waziri Adamawa in the Adamawa Emirate.
Many see the reform as Governor Ahmadu Fintiri's way of whittling down his influence in the state.
However, the state Commissioner for Information, Iliya James, said in a statement on Wednesday that 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 development has been causing uproar in the state since the reform was made public on Tuesday.
However, the former Vice President is yet to comment on the matter.