Deadly Bandit Leader Bello Turji Embraces Peace, Surrenders Arms

• Zamfara state enjoyed peace as notorious bandit leader, Bello Turji, finally laid down his arms and surrendered
• Turji, who reached a peace agreement with some top Islamic clerics in Zamfara state, released 32 kidnapped captives
• Musa Yusuf, a cleric popularly known as Asadus-Sunnah, confirmed this development in Kaduna state and shared further details

Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.

Zamfara terrorism kingpin, Bello Turji, has released 32 kidnapped persons and agreed to stop attacking farmers following a series of meetings with some Islamic clerics in his hideout.

Turji struck a deal with Islamic clerics

Musa Yusuf, a cleric popularly known as Asadus-Sunnah, disclosed this at a religious gathering on Monday, August 4, in Kaduna state.

Mr Yusuf revealed that Mr Turji also surrendered some of his arms after the meeting in the Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara state.

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The cleric said Shinkafi residents engaged his team of clerics to appeal to Mr Turji to let them access their farms in the forest. He said the meeting took place three times in July in the Fakai forest.

“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.

“He (Mr Turji) also released 32 kidnapped captives as part of the peace agreement,” Mr Yusuf said and showed the video of some of the released captives and the difficult terrain they crossed to reach Mr Turji’s camp.

Speaking further, he added that the freed persons, including children and women, had spent about four months in captivity and noted that some of the women gave birth in captivity, while one suffered a snake bite.

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Cleric speaks about deal with Turji

As reported by Premium Times, Mr Yusuf said that since the deal, the area (Shinkafi axis) has enjoyed relative peace, and the locals are cultivating their farmlands without fear of being kidnapped.

Mr Yusuf said the clerics were still trying to persuade Mr Turji to accept total peace, but they did not ask him to surrender all his arms so as not to make him vulnerable to attack by other groups opposed to the peace process in the state.

Turji’s ally, Danbokolo, 6 bandit commanders killed

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that operatives of the Zamfara Community Protection Guards (CPG) did huge damage to the camp of bandits and terrorists in the state.

The guards killed a notorious bandit, Kachalla Yellow Danbokolo and six other bandits commanders during a gun battle and 182 others.

Read more about Turji here:

• Military kills bandit leader’s second-in-command
• Bandit’s death: Notorious terrorist Bello Turji fights back, imposes N22m levy on Sokoto villages
• Troops kill Turji's son in Zamfara

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Military kills Bello Turji's former ally

In a previous story, Legit.ng reported that troops killed top terrorist commanders in Zamfara state, northwest geo-political zone of Nigeria.

Legit.ng gathered that the slain bandit commanders included Kachalla Shehu and Kachalla Gwammade on Thursday night, February 6.

Proofreading by Funmilayo Aremu, copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng