A few days after military operations in Zamfara state killed two leaders of terrorist groups and their followers, another capo, Bello Turji, freed dozens of victims that his group kidnapped.
Turji has released 52 kidnapping victims as part of his efforts to appease the Zamfara state government to grant him an amnesty.
Informed sources in the state, including an official from the Government House, confirmed the news to this newspaper on Monday.
PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr. Turji wrote a ceasefire letter to President Buhari, Governor Bello Matawalle and the Emir of Shinkafi.
In the letter, he outlined five conditions for the ceasefire.
Governor Bello Matawalle of the state of Zamfara. [PHOTO CREDIT: @officialdrbellomatawalle]His current gesture comes a few days after Nigerian air force planes bombed the leaders of two other bandits and their followers in the Gusami forest in Zamfara state.
Saturday’s air force bombings are part of the army’s renewed efforts to decimate the various terrorist groups operating in the Northwest, where thousands of people were killed and kidnapped in 2021.
Release of kidnapping victims
Mohammed Humility, a resident of the Shinkafi local government area in Zamfara state, told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday night that the abducted victims were from communities in the Shinkafi, Zurmi and Birnin Magaji local government areas in the state of Zamfara, as well as Isa and Sabon Birni LGA from Sokoto. Express.
“We waited for them since the morning, but they were released around 7 pm Some officials rented five buses and sent them to the riverbank for the meeting,” he said.
He said the released captives were being taken to Gusau, the state capital.
Another resident, Salihu Shinkafi, Senior Lecturer at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, said he spoke with someone who knew the released victims.
He added that the release of the victims could be due to the murder of Alh Auta, a notorious leader of the bandits, by air force bombs.
A source from the Zamfara State Government House, who asked not to be named because he does not have permission to speak to journalists about the matter, said Turji took the move to appease the state governor.
“I can confirm that His Excellency was aware of Turji’s decision to release the victims. For now, I know the stand is that there will be no dialogue with bandits because even the letter was ignored. We also learned that Turji has been pleading with some of his friends to release some captives as part of his plan to appease us, but I’m not sure that will work, ”he said.
The police spokesman in Zamfara state, Mohammed Shehu did not respond to calls and SMS sent to him about the development.
Governor Matawalle was an advocate of dialogue with bandits to persuade them to lay down their arms and embrace the law.
But he scrapped the policy after some of the so-called repentant bandits returned to the woods to resume their criminal activities after being paid by the state government.
Subsequently, a military offensive dislodged many of the bandits from the Zamfara forests. But they moved to neighboring Sokoto, where they have been kidnapping and massacring residents and road users.
A bombing of the hideouts of some of the bandits late last month in Zamfara resulted in the death of some of them, after which Turji unilaterally declared a ceasefire.