Saifullahi Muhammad is a suspected bandit, who served as a ‘middleman’ between the Zamfara State Government and bandits’ leaders during an amnesty deal under the Bello Muhammad Matawalle-led administration.
Saifullahi’s main responsibilities, according to multiple security sources, included mediation between Zamfara government and bandit leaders, particularly those that have entered into agreement with the government, coordinating negotiations between families of kidnapped victims and bandits and the collection of ransom for delivery to bandits among others.
According to a police source, one of the ransoms the suspect collected was the first delivery of N10 million which one Alhaji Abubakar Bello Furfuri paid to the bandits for the release of his seven children that were abducted by the bandits.
The source said Alhaji Abubakar Bello Furfuri, a former permanent secretary in Zamfara State was attacked by the bandits and his seven children – six females and a male – were abducted.
The Zamfara State Police Commissioner, Muhammad Shehu Dalijan, who confirmed Saifullahi’s arrest, said the suspect was arrested over alleged complicity in banditry activities including conspiracy for banditry, kidnapping and bargaining as well as collection of ransom.
He said the suspect, who was arrested by the police on May 11, 2024, based on intelligence, had confessed to being appointed as a special assistant on banditry matters by the Matawalle-led government on a monthly allowance of N80,000.
The suspect, the commissioner added, had made some damning revelations that warranted further investigation. “This is what is taking our investigation long. You see, in this kind of situation, police have to carry out a thorough investigation to uncover the truth of the whole issue.’’
However, while the police were investigating the case, the family of the suspect continued to mount pressure on them to either release him on bail or take him to court. This prompted the police’s decision to arraign Saifullahi before a state High Court on July 27, 2024, on a three-count charge of conspiracy, banditry and kidnapping.
At the last sitting of the court, counsel to the defendant (Saifullahi), Barrister Abdulfatahu Muhammad, applied for his bail supporting his application with sections 35 and 36 (5) of the Nigerian Constitution and sections 171, 174 and 175 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Zamfara State.
But countering the bail application, the prosecution counsel, Barrister Ibrahim B. Ahmad, urged the court to refuse the bail, arguing that going by the magnitude of the crimes the defendant was accused of; granting him bail might affect the trial in a negative way.
Barrister Ahmad argued that the defendant did not in any way give circumferences that would warrant the court to grant him bail in a trial bordering on conspiracy, banditry and kidnapping. He urged the court to consider the weight of the crimes and the provisions of Section 174 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution to disregard the bail application.
In his ruling, the presiding judge, Justice Bello Muhammad Kucheri, rejected the bail application for lacking in merit.
Speaking to Daily Trust, Alhaji Bello Furfuri, who confirmed the attack and abduction of his seven children, said: “It is true that I was attacked and seven of my children were abducted during the unfortunate incident. After some days I was contacted by someone who claimed to be among the abductors of my children.
“At the first instance, they demanded N10 million as ransom and when I paid, they refused to release my children. Few days later, I was contacted by the office of the then Deputy Governor, Alhaji Muhammad Hassan Nasiha, and N30 million was demanded from me for the release of my children which I also paid to somebody that was said to be a repentant bandit.
“I was surprised that the negotiation for the N30 million ransom was carried out inside the government house. Sincerely speaking, I was confused when I was asked to pay the ransom to a repentant bandit at the government house. I wonder why the payment of ransom is done inside the government house, but because I was desperate to rescue my children, I abided by the directives.
“After I paid the N30 million, the bandits then released only two out of my seven children; a male and a female. I was again contacted to pay additional money, but my relatives and friends advised me not to pay the money so I did not honour this request.
“Two months later, the bandits contacted me and asked for N40 million for the release of the remaining five children in their custody. After a long bargain, they reduced only N3 million; therefore, I paid an additional N37m to the bandits before they finally released my children. So, that was how I secured the release of my children after spending N77 million.”
Are bandits hosted in Zamfara government house?
Findings by Daily Trust indicated that bandits’ leaders, among them Bello Turji, Muhammad Bello Tagoji, Kachalla Halilu and Kachalla Damina were hosted at the Zamfara State government house sometime in 2022 by the former governor of the state, Bello Matawalle, for the purpose of amnesty deal.
Our reporter gathered that it was while these bandit kingpins were at the government house that Saifullahi was said to have collected the first delivery of N10 million ransom from Alhaji Furfuri and delivered it to the bandit leaders at the government house.
Besides the bandits’ leaders hosted at the government house, there were six other renowned bandits, notably called ‘big boys’ that frequented the government house during the regime of Bello Matawalle.
Why Matawalle hosted Bello Turji, others in the government house
An aide to the former governor, Dr Suleiman Shu’aibu Shinkafi, who confirmed hosting the bandit leaders at the government house, however, said they only spent a night during a dialogue for an amnesty deal.
Dr Shinkafi said what actually happened was that when Matawalle assumed office as governor, he came with a zeal to end banditry and therefore contacted the stakeholders concerned for a way out.
“The minister was told that some bandit leaders had indicated interest in dialoguing with the government. That’s how a dialogue for an amnesty deal under his government was conceived. So, a list of the bandit leaders that agreed to the deal was presented to Matawalle.”
Dr Shinkafi, however, said the former governor insisted that he couldn’t dialogue with the bandits on phone or take them to his personal house. He therefore, ordered that they should be invited to the government house for the dialogue.
“Remember when the American government agreed to dialogue with the Taliban, they met in Qatar everybody knows this. So, that was why the bandits were hosted at the government house for that purpose.
“Though I was not among the people that attended the dialogue meeting, I was at the government house when the discussion was held. I could vividly remember the police commissioner, the director DSS, the commandant of the military and civil defence, were all present at the meeting. I can also recall that nobody among us slept that day.
“So, at the end of the meeting, it was agreed that since the meeting ended late at night and the papers to be signed by the parties involved were not ready, the bandits’ leaders should spend the night in the government house so that in the morning they could sign the papers before they leave. So, the bandits were hosted in the government house for days as speculated.
“After the deal, my principal wanted to test the bandits’ honesty so he invited four million followers of Tijjaniyya sect from African countries including Ghana, Niger Republic, Burkina Faso and Cameroon for a week-long Maulud. The Maulud was conducted peacefully.
“It was also after we entered this amnesty agreement with the bandits that the students of Government Girls Secondary School Kankara were abducted and the former governor intervened and courtesy of the agreement, the students were released.
“Besides this particular agreement, my principal has never entered any agreement with bandits or talked to them in private and when the bandits breached the agreement, he fought them.”
He, however, denied the claim that Saifullahi was appointed as a special assistant to the ex-governor, but admitted that he was among the youth that were given a monthly incentive of N80,000 under an empowerment programme initiated to support youths in the state.
“All I can say is that we have an empowerment programme under which youths from the 23 local governments were empowered to be self-reliant. They were given a monthly stipend ranging from N50,000 to N80,000 depending on the category someone falls in.
“It is a programme initiated to alleviate poverty among our youth and I won’t be surprised if Saifullahi happens to be among the beneficiaries.”
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