Notorious armed leader, Bello Turji, has released 32 kidnapped persons and surrendered some of his weapons as part of a peace initiative brokered by Islamic clerics in Zamfara State.
Musa Yusuf, a cleric widely known as Asadus-Sunnah, disclosed the development during a religious event held in Kaduna on Monday. He said the meetings with Turji and other armed leaders took place in July within the Fakai forest, located in Shinkafi Local Government Area.
“We met Mr Turji, Dan Bakkolo, Black, Kanawa, and Malam Ila. The speculation that Dan Bakkolo was killed is not true. These people are the ones terrorising the axis, and they all agreed to the peace proposals, one of which is for them to surrender some of their arms to show commitment to the peace process,” Yusuf said.
According to him, the arms were surrendered in three separate phases, and residents of Shinkafi were granted access to their farmlands, which had long been under the control of Turji’s fighters. “We agreed that the Fulanis must be allowed to go to town without being stereotyped or killed by the vigilante,” he added.
Turji also released 32 captives — mostly women and children — who had spent about four months in his camp. Some of the women reportedly gave birth in captivity, while one was bitten by a snake. Yusuf showed a video of some of the freed hostages crossing difficult terrain to reach safety.
Since the agreement, Yusuf noted, the Shinkafi area has seen a relative calm, allowing farmers to return to their lands. However, he said Turji has not been asked to surrender all his arms, to avoid exposing him to rival armed groups who may oppose the peace initiative.
“We are still talking to him about total peace,” he said. “Those attacking Turji on social media should stop. Their utterances are not helping matters.”
While acknowledging that the peace deal with Turji won’t stop attacks across Zamfara, Yusuf said the arrangement has brought a level of calm to the territories under Turji’s influence.
He also praised President Bola Tinubu, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, Zamfara Governor Dauda Lawal, and Senator Shehu Buba for backing what he described as a non-violent approach to tackling insecurity in the region.
In a video clip from October, Turji had accused government forces and vigilante groups of targeting Fulani communities. “Peace will continue to elude Zamfara until these attacks stop,” he said.
He also dismissed the public quarrel between Governor Lawal and former governor Bello Matawalle, now Minister of State for Defence, as political. “Both politicians do not have their people’s best interests at heart,” Turji said.
