Peace is gradually returning to some bandit-controlled communities in Zamfara State as gang leaders holding sway in such areas have entered into peace accords with the locals.
The “ceasefire deal” is being implemented by four of the most wanted bandit kingpins: Ado Alero in Zamfara Central, Bello Turji and Dankarami who share the Northern zone, and Dogo Gide who occupies the Western zone.
over 100 villages were previously occupied by bandits across the state. Each of the notorious kingpins from the three senatorial zones, who are indigenes, made themselves ‘kings’ of the areas and applied their laws on the villagers as they pleased.
The villagers told our correspondent that apart from the 30 bandit camps across Zamfara, the four bandit leaders are in complete control of the occupied territories in the three senatorial zones.
The villagers, however, said that while some communities live in harmony with the bandits, others in places controlled by their rival groups are still subjected to hardships and heavy taxation.
Residents of the western part of Tsafe under the Ado Alero, Dogo Gide from Dansadau area in Maru local government and Bello Turji from Shikafi local government areas said they are living in peace and harmony with the bandits.
According to them, at the commencement of the current farming season, Dogo Gide directed all the villagers under his “jurisdiction” to feel free to cultivate their crops.According to a source, several farmlands that had not been cultivated for seven to eight years are now being farmed.
He said they took Gide seriously when he warned his followers not to touch or harass any indigenous farmer under his territory.
Alhaji Dansadau said there had been no report of bandits attacking or harassing the people since the beginning of the rainy season.
He stressed that the “people of Dansadau, Dangulbi, Dankurmi and other smaller villages that were not cultivating their farms are now doing so.”
With the development, the villagers believe God had answered their prayers for the state to be in peace and that farmers would have a bumper harvest this year.
Sani added that a heavy fight ensued between the two rival groups, and in the end scores of bandits from Katsina were killed, and others escaped with bullet wounds.
Another resident of Hayin Alhaji, Musa Hassan, also narrated that at the time the Katsina bandits arrived and surrounded the community, the residents were in panic without any hope of escaping, but luckily the Alero group overpowered the attackers and killed a majority of them while others escaped, leaving about 20 motorcycles behind.
“We thank God our community is living in peace and harmony with the bandits. They don’t harm us or cheat us. Likewise, we respect one another. We don’t have any problem with them; we go to the farm together and work as labourers,” Musa Hassan said.
Alhaji Nasiru Galadi from Shinkafi local government area of Zamfara North, where Bello Turji comes from, told LEADERSHIP Weekend on the phone that all the villages in Shinkafi are living in harmony with the bandit group, unlike some months or years back when the area was terrorised by bandits under Turji.
He said Turji had become a hero as he always protects his people and the entire villagers in Shinkafi local government area from any harm or attack by other bandits.
Galadi said some months ago, Turji warned his boys not to kidnap or attack villages under his territory and that anybody who broke the order and was caught attacking or kidnapping people would be killed instantly.
He said after the warning, a group under his watch kidnapped some villagers, and when Bello Turji learned about it, he immediately arrested the leader of the group and killed him.
“We are now at peace with the bandits, and we haven’t had any trouble with them for almost a year. Since then, we have been living in peace; we travel out from Shinkafi town to Gusau, a 95-kilometre journey, at any time without facing or expecting any attack from bandits,” Galadi said.
