The Atyap Community Development Association has said its proscription by the immediate-past Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, did not follow due process.
The PUNCH reported that the former governor, less than 24 hours to his exit from office, declared the association as “unlawful society in the state” and signed an order to proscribe it.
The former governor’s Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Muyiwa Adekeye, who released a statement on the proscription order, stated that: “Atyap Community Development Association has constituted itself into a society that is inimical to the peace of the state and has been covertly involved in acts capable of endangering the peace, tranquility, harmonious coexistence and good governance of Kaduna State.”
Atyap community is in Zango Kataf Local Government Area in the Southern Kaduna.
However, the association shot back at the former governor, describing the proscription as illegal, null and void, adding that the order was “immoral and oppressive.”
The National President of ACDA, Mr Samuel Achie, said the association was never served with any notice or instrument proscribing it.
He said,”The news of a purported proscription of the Atyap Community Development Association in Kaduna State by the outgone governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, came to us as a rude shock, but not surprising, through a press release issued on Sunday, May 28, 2023 by Mr Muyiwa Adekeye, his erstwhile press secretary.
“It is on record that the ACDA, especially during the tenue of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has never engaged in any unlawful activities even in the face of unnecessary provocation and attacks nor received any notice or complaint of any unlawful activities from the former Kaduna State Government or any quarters whatsoever that would have warranted any caution, not to talk of proscription.
“All these make the purported proscription not only illegal but immoral and oppressive, which is in tune with the hostile and vindictive posture of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to the Atyap ethnic nationality throughout his tenure as Governor of Kaduna State.
“The leadership of the ACDA shall take all lawful and legal steps to protect these rights. Members should, therefore, remain calm and law-abiding as we remain resolute in our resolve to protect our land and people from anybody who thinks they can come from nowhere and take our land.”
