A Zamfara State bandits leader, Turji has pulled off a swap deal with the State Government after he agreed to release his abductees in exchange of his arrested father by security operatives.
Reports obtained by ElombahNews show that Turji released the villagers and travellers he abducted over the weekend following his father’s arrest by security forces.
Some two weeks after his father was arrested in Kazaure, Jigawa State on Saturday, Turji embarked on a mass abduction spree to register his grievances.
A concerned citizen, Mr. Bulama Bukarti tweeted:
… 34 villages for retaliatory attacks. Residents of many villages have fled their homes and others are panicking. The sheer brazenness with which these terrorists operate is dumbfounding. Giving villages “Attack Notice” in a country that is suppose have a govt is unbelievable.
— Bulama Bukarti, PhD (@bulamabukarti) July 18, 2021
According to Daily Trust, the father was said to have relocated to Jigawa State after he failed to dissuade his son from his criminal ways.
He was arrested following a tip-off by an informant from a rival gang who told security forces that the father was trading in cattle stolen by the son’s gang.
In attacks on villagers such as Kware, Kurya, Badarawa, Keta and Maberaya, gunmen abducted many residents and rustled a number of cattle.
Informed sources told Daily Trust that Turji also received his father from mediators on Sunday afternoon.
A source said Turji agreed to release the abductees as part of a wider mediation process initiated by the federal government as an alternative resolution strategy to tackle rural banditry.
“He released the villagers unconditionally because of the pleas by mediators who are bringing key bandits to the table with the government,” a security source who is part of the new process, said.
In an audio clip on Sunday, Turji was heard promising to release all the people and animals taken by his men once his father was brought back to him.
“Let them give you my father. Once you brought him to Bayan Ruwa, I assure you every one of the abductees and all the animals in my custody will be released,” he told the caller who is a prominent community leader in Shinkafi.
