Deadly Bandit Leader Bello Turji Embraces Peace, Surrenders Arms.
Zamfara terrorism kingpin Bello Turji has released 32 kidnapped individuals and agreed to cease attacks on farmers following a series of meetings with Islamic clerics in his hideout.
Turji reached a peace agreement with Islamic cleric Musa Yusuf, who is popularly known as Asadus-Sunnah. Yusuf announced the development during a religious gathering on Monday, August 4, in Kaduna State.
During these discussions, which took place three times in July in the Fakai forest, Mr. Yusuf reported that Turji also surrendered some of his firearms. The residents of Shinkafi engaged Yusuf and his team of clerics to persuade Turji to allow them access to their farms, which had previously been unsafe due to his group’s activities.
“We met with Mr. Turji, along with Dan Bakkolo, Black, Kanawa, and Malam Ila. The rumor that Dan Bakkolo was killed is not true. These individuals have been terrorizing the area, and they all agreed to the peace proposals.
One condition was the surrender of some of their arms to demonstrate their commitment to the peace process,” Yusuf stated. He also shared a video showing some of the released captives and the difficult terrain they traversed to reach Turji’s camp.
Mr. Yusuf further explained that the freed individuals, including women and children, had spent about four months in captivity. Some of the women gave birth while imprisoned, and one suffered a snake bite.
Since the agreement, the Shinkafi area has reportedly enjoyed relative peace, allowing locals to cultivate their farmlands without the fear of kidnapping.
Yusuf indicated that the clerics continue to work on persuading Turji to embrace total peace but have refrained from requesting the full surrender of arms to avoid making him vulnerable to attacks from groups opposed to the peace process in the state.
Meanwhile, sources report that operatives from the Zamfara Community Protection Guards (CPG) have caused significant damage to the camps of bandits and terrorists in the region.
