Kaduna State gubernatorial candidate of the African Democratic Congress(ADC), Isa Ashiru, has blamed the Malam Nasir El Rufai administration for the escalation of insecurity in Kaduna State.

Ashiru spoke in an interview with Trust TV on Tuesday, attributing the security challenges in Kaduna State to retrenchment of many Traditional rulers by the previous administration, which he said has created a lot of ungoverned spaces.

”For instance, when the APC government came, they retrenched so many village heads and district heads. They left these places ungoverned. The report that is usually transmitted from the village head to district head head, to the Emir, for onward transmission to the Governor and Security Council meeting is no more,” he explained.

Besides, it will be recalled that El-Rufai’s government had reverted to 77 districts and 1,429 village units that existed prior to 2001, effectively sacking the 313 district heads and 4,453 village heads appointed after the year 2001 by administration of former Governor Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi.

The then Governor had enacted the Traditional Institutions Law N0 21 of 2021 in June, which replaced the Chiefs (Appointment and Deposition) Law Cap 25 of 1991, to undertake sweeping controversial reforms to the traditional and emirate council system in Kaduna State.

In the interview with Trust TV, Ashiru promised that his administration will bring the traditional rulers on board, so as to close the ungoverned spaces, pledging to provide operational vehicles for security agencies and give them incentives for putting their lives on the line.

The ADC candidate also said that his government will deploy the use of Artificial Intelligence ”because of the sophistication in the industry now,” adding that insecurity has become an industry because of the millions involved in the payment of ransom.

Decrying the security situation in the state, he expressed optimism that the matter will be reduced to the barest minimum, if not brought to an end, when his administration brings back the retrenched traditional rulers, deploys AI and gives incentives to security agencies, as well as provide them with operational vehicles.