The immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has accused ex-President Muhammadu Buhari of escalating terrorism in Nigeria.

El-Rufai said Buhari’s government failed to take his advice on how to tackle terrorism and banditry in 2017.

The governor spoke at the inauguration of his successor, Senator Uba Sani, in Kaduna.

El-Rufai lamented that the Buhari government took up arms against banditry and terrorism when it was too late.

He said: “In 2017, I requested the Federal Government to designate the emerging banditry as an insurgency and to unleash on bandits the full weight of the military. Sadly, this was not done until 2022, acting upon the declaration of the Federal High Court.

“It is a matter of regret that the Federal Government did not appreciate the gravity of the problem until banditry had wreaked so much havoc on lives, liberty, and livelihoods of so many people.

Although coordinated military action began later in 2022, the job remains incomplete.”

In the last two years, the North has witnessed severe banditry attacks that have claimed the lives of many Northerners.

Several states in the North suffered from terrorist attacks, but the military has been up and doing in tackling the situation.