The Katsina state governor, Dikko Umar Radda, has said that his administration won’t in any way negotiate with bandits but rather he is determined to apply sufficient military force to compel the bandits to come to the negotiating table.
The governor said this when he visited the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, in his office on Thursday, October 26.
Rada said: “The last administration in the state what they did was to negotiate 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.”
The governor said he had 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.
He said he has visited the Defence Headquarters to strengthen the existing relationship between the state and the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
Rada commended the military for their role in ensuring security in the state and across the country.
In his remarks, the Chief of Defence Staff thanked the governor for the initiative of the community security watch and called on other governors to emulate him in that aspect.
He advised governors of states in the North West to come together on how to reduce the security challenges affecting the North West region.
