*Surrenders Arms
*Frees 32 Abductees
*’Why We Didn’t Demand Total Surrender Of Arms’
*’Farming Has Resumed In Some Parts Of Zamfara Following Our Peace Deal’
By our reporter
Perhaps, just perhaps, a flicker of the light of peace is bring lit in the troubled North-West following reports that wanted terrorist, Bello Turji, has agreed to cease,on a limited scale, his campaign of serial murders, abductions for ransom, sacking of local communities,maimings, and sundry horrific acts in the zone.
In a seeming unprecedented move, facilitated by a group of Islamic clerics based in Zamfara State in the zone, Turji is said to have surrendered some of his arms -his tools of trade -and released 32 kidnapped persons in his custody.
Hundreds of persons have reportedly been killed by terrorists operating in the North-West over the last couple of years,raising serious alarms over security of lives and properties.
A cleric in the group involved in the peace initiative, Musa Yusuf, popularly known as Asadus-Sunnah, disclosed news of the rapprochement during a religious gathering in Kaduna.
According to him, the cheery development came after several meetings in July with Turji and other notorious members of his gang in Fakai forest, located in Shinkafi Local Government Area (LGA) of Zamfara state.
The stage for the initiative was set when some residents of Shinkafi town in the state approached the clerics and requested them to talk to Turji to cease attacks and let farmers access their lands as hunger was literally “driving people crazy,” he disclosed.
Yusuf said: “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.
“We agreed that the Fulanis must be allowed to go to town without being stereotyped or killed by the vigilante (formed by local residents to defend themselves).”
The cleric announced that Turji and his boys thereafter laid down some of their weapons in three phases and have further fulfilled their own side of the agreement by letting residents resume farming in forest areas previously seized by the terrorists.
However, Yusuf did not identify the type of weapons surrendered, whom the arms were handed to or whether the weapons are now with security agencies.
Explaining why the group did not demand total arms surrender by Turji, he said it was because such would render the notorious terrorist vulnerable to attacks by rival terrorists who were not part of the peace initiative.
Also, Turji freed 32 abductees,the cleric said.
Yusuf validated his claims by presenting a video which had recorded the tough terrain the kidnapped persons plied, when they were initially kidnapped, to reach Turji’s camp.
Ostensibly, the video was handed to Yusuf’s group by Turji and his gang.
The cleric revealed that his group is still in further talks with Turji towards total halt to fighting and killings in the area.
