A banditry kingpin known as Ado Aleiro has been coronated as Sarkin Fulanin Yandoto by the Yandoton Daji Emirate in Zamfara State,
The turbaning ceremony was held on Saturday hours after the emirate announced the suspension of the process, according to Daily Trust.
In May, the Zamfara State House of Assembly amended the Zamfara State Emirate Council Establishment Law No. 15 of 2000 to allow for the creation of two additional emirate councils.
The two emirate councils under the law are ‘Yandoton Daji Emirate with second class emir comprising ‘Yandoton Daji, Keta, Kizara, Bawa-Ganga, Kwaren-Ganuwa, Danjibga and Kunchin-Kalgo districts with its headquarters at Birnin ‘Yandoto.
Aleiro was billed for the turbaning by the Emir of Yandoto Alhaji Aliyu Marafa on Saturday. However, few hours to the ceremony, the process was halted on the orders of the state government, Daily Trust on Sunday learnt.
The decision to confer the title on the banditry kingpin was premised on the pivotal role he played during a recent peace process locally arranged between the emirate and the bandits terrorizing Tsafe Local Government Area.
Sources at the emirate told our correspondent that the state government had ordered the halting of the conferment of chieftaincy title on the bandits’ leader for fear of backlash from the public after the process was leaked to the media.
“The Secretary of the Emirate told me this morning that the process has been suspended till further notice. It was not in the interest of the emirate council but that of a politician in the area,” the source said.
The turbaning ceremony held 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 bandits leader’s lieutenants on dozens of motorbikes also graced the occasion. They rode along Gusau-Funtua highway and had a stop over at Gidan Dawa community where residents donated cartons of soft drinks to them,” said a source from the town who did not want to be named.
“It was not clear whether Aleiro spoke at the turbaning ceremony or not but one of frontline lieutenants who spoke at the ceremony lamented how people are calling them armed criminals,” a resident identified as Sufyan told our correspondent.
“We are not armed robbers neither are we terrorists. But for the peace process to be sustained, government at the federal and state levels must do the needful by providing grazing lands, schools and hospitals for herdsmen,” he was quoted as saying