Bandit Turbaned in Zamfara: "I didn't ask for this title."

Ado Aleiro, a well-known thief who was recently named Sarkin Fulani in Yantodo Emirate, Zamfara State, says he did not ask for the title.

In an interview with DW Hausa, the thief, who has been blamed for terrorising some parts of the North West, said this.

He said, "To be honest, I didn't ask for the title. The Emirate called me, and at first I said no."

After talking with our leaders about what was going on, they said I shouldn't turn down the offer because the new emir was insistent that it had to happen in his emirate. So I took the job.

Aleiro also said that he was not the person who planned the deaths of more than 100 people in the village of Kadisau in the Faskari local government area of Katsina state.

He said he didn't know who was behind the attack and added, "Ask the village head of Kadisau. It was a revenge attack, and I wasn't part of it; I was just connected to it."

When people heard that he was going to be given a title, they protested. However, the turbaning ceremony took place hours after the emirate said that the process would be stopped.

The banditry leader was given the title because of the role he played in a recent peace process between the emirate and the bandits who were terrorising the Tsafe Local Government Area of the state.

Since then, Zamfara's Governor Bello Matawalle has stopped monarchs from giving titles to people without first getting permission from the state government.