He explained that the last administration negotiated with the bandits, and the negotiation did not yield any result.
The Katsina State Governor, Dikko Radda, has said that his predecessor, Aminu Masari’s administration negotiated with terrorists, locally dubbed as bandits, in the state but such engagement did not yield any result.
The governor noted that his administration would use both kinetic and Non-Kinetic approaches to address the issue of insecurity in the State.
Governor Radda, who affirmed that he would not in any way negotiate with bandits, made this assertion when he visited the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Christopher Musa, on Thursday.
He explained that the last administration negotiated with the bandits, and the negotiation did not yield any result.
He said, “The last administration negotiated with the bandits, and the negotiation did not yield any result. We felt that we have to use both kinetic and Non-Kinetic approaches to address the issue. As it is now, we can’t negotiate with the bandits at the point of their advantage.
"We want to negotiate with the bandits when they have received a lot of pressure, so that they will now come out and say they are ready for negotiation. At that point, we will negotiate with them and resettle them back to society.
"We have launched the Community Security Watch in the state to complement the efforts of the military and other security agencies in the ongoing battle against bandits.”
The governor said he visited the Defence Headquarters to strengthen the existing relationship between the state and the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
He commended the military for their role in ensuring security in the state and across the country.
Meanwhile, the Chief of Defence Staff thanked the governor for the initiative of community security watch, and called on other governors to emulate him on that aspect.
He advised governors of states in the Northwest to come together on how to reduce the security challenges affecting the North West region.