“There Is A Day Of Reckoning” — Isa Ashiru Blasts Kaduna Govt Over El-Rufai’s Detention
African Democratic Congress, ADC, governorship candidate in Kaduna State, Hon. Isa Ashiru Kudan, has blasted the Kaduna State Government over the continued detention of former Governor Nasir El-Rufai, warning that “there is a day of reckoning.”
Ashiru, who spoke in an exclusive interview with DCL Hausa and monitored by Northern Nigeria Hub, said the detention of El-Rufai is being driven by politics and called on the government to stop moving the former governor from one court to another.
He said if El-Rufai has a case to answer, he should be taken to court, judged and allowed to know his status, rather than being subjected to political persecution.
“The talk about whether politics is involved in detention is political talk. It is politics. But the issue of Malam Nasiru being in prison every day is real, it is true, it is not a lie. Is it the Kaduna State Government that is accusing him? We are not saying Malam Nasiru has no case to answer. If you are accused, you should be taken to court and judged. Let him know his status. Let them stop moving him from one court to another. Let us all have the fear of God. Today it is you, tomorrow it is another person. If a person commits an offence, take him and punish him, let him know his position. If it is political persecution, then let them do the back-and-forth, but there is a day of reckoning,” Ashiru said.
The ADC candidate was responding to questions on allegations that Governor Uba Sani has a hand in the continued detention of El-Rufai, who is facing charges filed by the Kaduna State Government and has remained in detention.
Speaking further, Ashiru declared that El-Rufai is his brother and he has no problem with him, despite their fierce rivalry in 2023.
Ashiru was the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate in 2023, while El-Rufai was the outgoing governor on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who deployed his incumbency to support Uba Sani to succeed him.
Three years later, both men are now in the same opposition coalition, the African Democratic Congress, ADC, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
“Malam, I want to assure you, not just Malam Nasir alone. Even with other parties, I have no problem with them. I relate with them because politics is not madness. Malam Nasiru is my brother, I have no problem with him. Politics separated us, politics has now brought us together again. So I don’t have any problem with him,” he stated.
On his 2023 election defeat, Ashiru rejected claims that he lost woefully to Uba Sani.
“I did not lose woefully in 2023. What happened has happened, that is history. What I want to assure you now is that the complaints on the ground in Kaduna State have gone beyond the reasoning of a sensible person,” he said.
“I want to assure you, not just in Nigeria, but the whole world knows I defeated them in the election. What went and came back is left to them. Do you suspect something happened? I strongly suspect something happened. And I have left it to God,” he added.
Ashiru also launched a scathing attack on the Kaduna State House of Assembly, saying he does not recognize it as a legislature.
“I don’t think we have a House of Assembly in Kaduna State. There are members but there is no Assembly,” he said.
“The truth is they have become family members of the governor, whatever he wants is what he does. Nobody says anything, let alone do anything,” he explained.
He queried when the Assembly last sat, noting that the law provides that an Assembly that fails to sit for a certain number of days should be dissolved, but that under the current administration, the House does not carry out its duties.
On his strategy for 2027 against APC heavyweights like Senator Shehu Sani and former Governor Muktar Ramalan Yero who are now with Governor Uba Sani, Ashiru said his plan remains a closely guarded secret that will only be revealed at the appropriate time.
