Apparently regretting his rapprochement with terrorists in Katsina State, Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, has vowed not to negotiate or trust the hoodlums again because of their nefarious activities despite the two peace deals he had with them.
The governor added that with the benefit of hindsight, his government should never have negotiated with the terrorists, let alone grant them amnesty because “they are not propagating any ideology, they are criminals.”
Masari explained that some of the ‘so-called repentant’ terrorists who were released from custody as a result of the peace deals are now leaders of terrorists with more than 100 gangs and various camps in Zamfara, Sokoto and Katsina states.
In an interactive session with members of a high-powered foreign delegation led by the Head of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Nigeria, Mohammed Yahya, at the Government House, Katsina, Masari insisted there was no need to negotiate with the criminals.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, Head of Cooperation, European Union in Nigeria, Cécile Tassin-Pelzer and Norway Ambassador to Nigeria, Knut Eiliv Lein, were among the delegation.
Although Governor Masari said he never regretted his decision at the time, he admitted that information available to him confirmed that engaging the terrorists who had killed and raped innocent citizens in the state was not the right thing to do.
Consequently, he urged the United Nations Development Programme, European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) to support the Nigerian government with the provision of technologies that will enable security agencies to have access to the nation’s ungoverned forest areas.
He said: “Because they (terrorists) said they are Muslims, we went as far as asking them to swear to the Holy Qur’an that they will never participate in banditry again.
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