* Says previous administration misfired
Katsina State governor, Dikko Radda, has ruled out the possibility of negotiating with bandits terrorizing residents of the State, saying that the government will instead use both kinetic and non-kinetic means to end the menace.
Radda disclosed this on Thursday shortly after a closed-door meeting with the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja.
He said the State government resolved against negotiation because past attempts did not yield any positive results.
“What the last administration did was that, they negotiated with bandits, but the negotiation has not yielded any result.
“We feel that we have to use a kinetic and non-kinetic approach to address the issue. For now, we cannot negotiate with the bandits at the point of disadvantage,” Radda said.
The governor said he would rather negotiate with the bandits when there is a lot of pressure on them, such that they would come out on their own and say that they want to sit down and negotiate.
He said the Community Security Watch, which was launched by the government, has recruited locals from the communities where banditry has been taking place.
According to him, the effort of the government is to strengthen the military and other security outfits to carry out joint operations that will help to reduce the effect of the insecurity on the people.
“At that point, we can negotiate with them, and we can resettle them back into the society,” he said.
Radda also said that his visit to the Defence Headquarters was to strengthen the collaboration that exists between the State and the military.
He noted that the military has played a key role in reducing insecurity in the State and nation, adding that collaboration with the military and other security agencies remains the only way out of the prevailing security challenges in the State.
“Jointly, we can do something that can reduce the effect on our people and also allow our people to go about their economic activities, as enshrined by the Constitution,” he added.
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Musa, commended the efforts of the government in addressing the security challenges through various initiatives including the creation of community watch.
He urged the governor to collaborate with his colleagues in the neighbouring states towards having a unified voice against insecurity in their various states.
He pledged the willingness of the armed forces to collaborate with the state government to address the security challenges in Katsina State in order to ensure lasting peace.