A notorious terror kingpin, Ada Aleru, has been turbaned as the Sarkin Fulani (the chief of the Fulani) of the Yandoton Daji Emirate.
Yandoton Daji is one of the two new emirates created by the Zamfara government in May.
It was carved out from the Tsafe Emirate. The Emir of Yandoton Daji is Aliyu Marafa.
The decision to confer the title on the leader of a gang of bandits was premised on the role he played during a recent peace process locally arranged between the emirate and the bandits terrorising Tsafe Local Government Area.
The turbaning ceremony was held on Saturday at the palace of the Emir of Yandoton Daji and was attended by the council chairman of Tsafe Local Government and the state Commissioner of Security and Home Affairs, DIG Ibrahim Mamman Tsafe (rtd).
The bandit leader was the arrowhead of a deadly raid on Kadisau, a community in the Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State, where about 52 people were killed.
He was declared wanted by the Katsina Police Command in 2019 with a bounty of N5 million put on his head.
Deadly attacks have raged across Zamfara State where bandits have thrived.
Agrarian communities in the state have long been terrorised by gangs who raid villages, steal cattle and kidnap residents for ransom.
In 2019, the state government signed a peace agreement with the gunmen.
About 15 brand new Hilux vehicles and cash gifts were also given to leaders of different ‘repentant’ gangs of bandits by the governor in 2020.
But despite all these, communities in the state are still being attacked and residents kidnapped and/or killed.
Aleru, 45, was born in Yankuzo village under Tsafe Local Government Area but grew up in the main town.
