The former Chairman of Zamfara State’s committee on prosecution of bandits, Abdullahi Shinkafi, has alleged that a recent Islamic cleric’s visit to notorious bandit leader Bello Turji’s hideout has sparked jealousy among other bandit kingpins in the region.
Speaking in an interview with News Central TV, Shinkafi explained that the Islamic cleric’s visit to Turji’s camp has created resentment among other bandit kingpins who feel overlooked by government peace initiatives. “The Islamic cleric visit to Bello Turji’s hideout ignited some bandits kingpins who felt irrelevant because they have not been contacted like Bello Turji and many other notorious bandits,” he stated.
The former committee chairman revealed that the selective engagement has generated feelings of exclusion among criminal leaders who consider themselves equally significant in the region’s security dynamics.
Shinkafi suggested that other bandit commanders interpret the cleric’s visit as government acknowledgment of Turji’s prominence over their own operations. “So, they feel that the federal government or the delegation headed by the Islamic cleric only identified the nefarious activities of Bello Turji, and that is why they are trying to identify with him and make peace and reconciliation with him,” he explained.
A report emerged this week revealing that Zamfara State terrorism kingpin Bello Turji had released 32 kidnapped individuals and committed to ceasing attacks on farmers following negotiations with Islamic clerics at his hideout location.
Musa Yusuf, a cleric widely known as Asadus-Sunnah, announced these developments during a religious gathering on Monday in Kaduna. According to Yusuf, Turji also surrendered some of his weapons following discussions held in the Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
The cleric revealed that he and a group of Islamic scholars had engaged Turji and his associates in direct talks deep within the Fakai forest in Shinkafi Local Government Area. Yusuf described the challenging journey to reach the terrorist leader, explaining that the delegation had to cross a river without a canoe and travel a considerable distance deep inside the forest on motorcycles before reaching Turji’s enclave.
Sheikh Yusuf indicated that the clerics continue working to persuade Turji toward complete peace. He also advised fellow clerics to refrain from engaging in public verbal attacks against Turji, warning that such actions could derail the fragile peace process currently underway.
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