I don't kidnap, I only kill people - Aleru, terrorist "leader" of Zamfara

Notorious kingpin of banditry, Ada Aleru, who was recently named Sarkin Fulani Yandoton Daji Emirate (the leader of the Fulani in Yandoton Daji) in a chilling confession, said he does not kidnap people but kills them .

The coronation of Mr. Aleru, who is the main Tsafe and Faskari axis terrorist of Zamfara and Katsina states, has sparked public outcry across the country.

The state government subsequently suspended the city's emir, Aliyu Marafa, who conferred the title on Mr. Aleru, who is wanted in neighboring Katsina state for mass killings.

The Katsina government has placed a 5 million naira bounty on information leading to the arrest of Mr. Aleru, who is accused of killing 52 people in Kadisau, a community in Faskari local government in 2019.

In his first and only known interview with the media, Mr Aleru told the BBC that he was angry with the Hausas and the Nigerian government.

In a documentary called 'The Bandit Warlords of Zamfara' scheduled to air on July 25, 2022, Mr. Aleru said that while his men were kidnapping people, he was only interested in killing people.< /p>

"My men are doing this; I'm just going to kill them (people)," Mr. Aleru said.

An anonymous associate of Mr Aleru told the BBC Africa Eye team that 'Fula people are systematically excluded from government jobs and other economic opportunities, and the Nigerian Air Force is attacking herdsmen innocent Fulani and kill their livestock. "How did the Fulani become so useless in Nigeria?" he asks.

He lamented that the grazing routes the Fulani relied on have been closed as land and water have become very scarce.

The BBC also interviewed the terrorists who abducted students from Jangebe Government Secondary School for Girls, Talata Mafara Local Government Area in Zamfara State.

While the state government insisted no ransom had been paid, the anonymous bandit said he was paying 60 million naira before releasing the students.

When asked what they did with the money, he replied, "We bought more guns."

Heartbreaking scenes, including that of a boy dying from a gunshot wound, were also shown in the documentary.

"I remember how he lifted his head to look at me when he was in that state," the boy's father told the BBC. "It pains me to see how much my boy has suffered...I am devastated."

The BBC said it understood the teenager, whose sister was among the schoolgirls abducted from Jangebe, had been killed by security forces.

Part of the documentary team's findings was the growing bitterness against the Fulani community by the Hausa community, which was evident in the encounter between the team and the people of Kurfar Danya.

"If this is allowed, we will kill all the Fulani, even in the city", declares one of the vigilantes, "because they killed our mothers, our fathers, our children and threw their bodies here" . A resident said in protest that more than 200 people had been killed by the terrorists.

Residents took the journalist to the mass grave sites. The documentary further confirms that the violence in the region is largely fueled by revenge rather than protection. Vigilante groups are largely residents of Hausa communities.

"Many Nigerians are rightly troubled by the idea that the violence contains elements of ethnic conflict. But that is the inescapable conclusion from listening to the voices in this film," said the BBC in a press release announcing the release of the documentary.

"Obviously it's tribal," says Hassan Dantawaye, a terrorist who was among the first Fulani men to bring weapons to Zamfara and take up arms at the head of a terrorist gang. “If not, how can someone walk through settlements but only set fire to the Fulani? Why would a Fulani kill an innocent Hausa? Obviously, it's a tribal conflict."

The BBC Africa Eye said the documentary seeks to offer its contri...