Bello Turji even got a singer to compose a song in his praise after making national headlines for killing 23 Sokoto travellers.
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Leader of bandits in Nigeria, Bello Turji, has solicited for truce with the federal and state governments after murdering at least 23 travellers about a week ago.
Bello Turji, until the dastardly act, was not so known outside the Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Niger and Kaduna axis. The killing of at least 23 Sokoto travellers by his goons caused national outrage which shot him to prominence.
The travellers were murdered after their vehicle ran into Bello Turji’s goons.
A journalist and former editor-in-chief of Daily Trust, Mahmud Jega, revealed in his column in Thisday newspaper that under Bello Turji’s rule, “there is no farming, no traveling and no markets in the territory he held sway.”
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Like Boko Haram, Bello Turji taxes community members and rules them with iron fist.
Bello Turji even got a singer to compose a song in his praise after making national headlines for killing via fire, of 23 Sokoto travellers.
But after he became the most wanted criminal in Nigeria with all the security agencies looking for him, he wrote a lengthy letter calling for a truce.
He said he was willing to drop his weapon in a truce that should have government forces also doing same.
Bello Turji atrocities
The Gobir Community Development Association (GCDA) had a few days ago, through its leader, Ibrahim Alhassan, wrote an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari over the atrocities of Bello Turji.
The group said Bello Turji has usurped the authority of the federal, state and local governments, the Sokoto Sultanate, the Shinkafi Emirate in Zamfara State and all the district and village heads under them.
The group said Sabon Birni, Goronyo and Isa LGAs in Sokoto State and Shinkafi LGA in Zamfara State are now under Bello Turji’s firm control, with his troops kidnapping and raping at will. “He blocks roads, sacks markets, seizes food and any material he fancies, and kills anyone who resists,” the letter to Mr Buhari reads in part.
“He sacks village heads and appoints his own village heads. He levies taxes on communities.If any village fails to pay the levies, Bello Turji visits it with instant and merciless attack, kills anyone he can find, including women and children.
“Among the villages that Turji sacked were Gajit, Lajinge, Tarah, Unguwar Lalle, Kurawa, Gangara and Garin Idi. A month earlier, Bello Turji sacked Garki village, five kilometres from Sabon Birni, and killed 80 people in one night.
“On Tuesday last week, this bandit carried out one of his most heinous acts yet. His goons stopped a bus that left Sabon Birni for Gusau, set it ablaze and burnt 23 people alive. His men stood guard around the bus while people were roasted.
“There is no farming, no traveling and no markets. The biggest problem we are facing today is that you are in your house and terrorists come and abuse you in front of your family. And all the communities that I told you about are taxed, and they have paid. But even though they have paid, they have not found peace,” the group said in the open letter