Notorious terrorist leader, Bello Turji, has reportedly surrendered some of his arms and released 32 kidnapped victims as part of a peace initiative facilitated by Islamic clerics in Zamfara State.
One of the clerics involved in the talks, Musa Yusuf, popularly known as Asadus-Sunnah, disclosed this during a religious gathering in Kaduna on Monday.
He said the development followed a series of meetings held in July with Turji and other notorious fighters in the Fakai forest, located in the Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara.
According to Yusuf, the peace talks were initiated by residents of Shinkafi who requested the clerics to appeal to Turji to halt attacks and allow farmers to access their lands.
“We met Mr Turji, Dan Bakkolo, Black, Kanawa, and Malam Ila. The speculation that Dan Bakkolo was killed is not true. These individuals are responsible for the insecurity in the area, and they all agreed to the peace proposals,” Yusuf said.
“ We agreed that the Fulanis must be allowed to go to town without being stereotyped or killed by the vigilante.”
He explained that the group surrendered some of their weapons in three phases and allowed residents to resume farming activities in forest areas previously under their control.
As part of the peace deal, Turji also released 32 kidnapped individuals. Yusuf presented a video showing the difficult terrain the freed captives had to cross to reach Turji’s camp.
Yusuf noted that the clerics are still engaging with Turji to secure a complete cessation of hostilities.
He added that they deliberately did not demand the surrender of all weapons to avoid making Turji vulnerable to attacks from rival groups that may not be part of the peace process.
