Notorious terrorist leader Bello Turji has reportedly surrendered some of his weapons and freed 32 kidnapped victims.
This development is part of a peace effort in Zamfara State spearheaded by local Islamic clerics.
One of the clerics involved in the negotiations, Musa Yusuf (known as Asadus-Sunnah), shared the news during a religious gathering.
He explained that the breakthrough came after several meetings with Turji and other armed fighters in July in the Fakai forest.
The peace talks were initiated by residents of Shinkafi, who appealed to the clerics to convince Turji to stop the violence and allow them to safely access their farmlands.
“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.”
According to a cleric involved in the negotiations, Bello Turji’s group has surrendered some of its weapons in three separate phases.
The group also allowed residents to safely return to farm in forest areas that were previously under their control.
As a gesture of goodwill, Turji also released 32 kidnapped individuals.
The cleric shared a video that showed the difficult terrain the freed captives had to navigate to get to Turji’s camp.
The clerics are still in talks with Turji, hoping to secure a complete and permanent end to the violence.
The cleric noted that they intentionally didn’t demand the surrender of all weapons at once to prevent Turji from becoming an easy target for rival groups not involved in the peace talks.
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