Still waiting for General Musa to take out Turji Bello, by Yemi Adebowale

I was shattered by the video released last week by Turji Bello, the dominant terror group leader in North-west Nigeria, in which he threatened to unleash more venom on the Nigerian military and residents of communities in Zamfara and Sokoto states. This followed the recent arrest of some of his lieutenants by the Army. Turji is still kicking. His terror group operates brazenly in Zamfara, Katsina, and Sokoto states killing, maiming, and abducting innocent Nigerians for ransom. Turji is holding so many communities in these states by the jugular while collecting all sorts of levies from them. This outlaw is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent people in the North-west. He has been in this bloody business for over eight years unhindered. This is not the first time Turji will release a video threatening Nigerians and the military. But the one released last week showed that he is growing in confidence, no thanks to the failure of the military to tame him. There was so much impunity in his rantings while presenting himself as invincible.

Turji, surrounded by armed men in the video released on December 25, declared: “The message is for the residents of Zamfara and Sokoto states, specifically, residents of Shinkafi, to release our brothers who are with them, otherwise, the year 2025 is going to be deadly for them with frequent kidnapping for ransom.” He accused residents of Shinkafi, Isa, and Zurmi of providing intelligence to the military that led to the arrests of his boys, threatening deadly consequences for any town that defied his directives.

“We are calling on the residents of Shinkafi, Isa, Zurmi, and its environs in this coming year, 2025, if you don’t address those informants responsible for the killing of our brothers, you will face the consequences. You know we are killers; we know how to kill. Any town that fails to obey our directives, we are going to turn it into rubble,” Turji warned, pointing at decrepit buildings near him as a demonstration of his destructive strength.

To the military that claimed to have seized some weapons during operations against his group, Turji avowed in the video: “If you actually want to fight us, not our parents, you know where we are. Come, let us fight.” Yes, this felon has challenged the Nigerian military to a duel. I expect the military to respond appropriately.

A man that should have been sent to the gallows for numerous killings is moving around carrying out more murders. Just yesterday, Turji’s boys abducted 10 passengers and burnt their vehicle along Kaura-Namoda-Shinkafi Road in Zamfara State. I will never forget how Turji and his boys in 2021 attacked a bus loaded with travellers and set it on fire at Gidan Bawa village, Isa Local Government Area of Sokoto State. No fewer than 23 people died in that attack. It was horrific. I will also not forget how these bastards in 2021 ambushed and killed three soldiers who were on their way to repel attacks in Fanda-Haki, Yar Katsina and Karrakkai communities, all in Bungudu Local Government Area of Zamfara State. That same year, they attacked a Mosque in Ruwan Jema community, Bukkuyum Local Government Area of Zamfara State, killing 11 people.

Turji threatens the Nigerian state with so much impunity. At some point in 2021, this blood sucker was giving conditions to be met government before he would end his attacks. He wrote an open letter to the then President Buhari; the then Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle and the Emir of Shinkafi, listing the conditions. It can only happen in Nigeria. Turji often insists he is capable of unleashing fire on security agents and beloved Nigeria, declaring, “Peace is priceless and I am ready to be a peace advocate unless the government wants me to be a warmonger. I am ready for either peace or war. Whatever the government wants, we can give them a multitude.”

That Turji is still operating unhindered under the Tinubu government is depressing. In September last year, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa promised to apprehend Turji. Musa called Turji “a deranged” individual and bet that he would be captured within the shortest possible time. “It is a matter of time, we’re going to get him, and I can assure you that it will be within the shortest possible time,” Musa guaranteed. Just on January 1, Musa again vowed to ensure the capture of Turji: “The update is that since he knows we’ve been after him, he has been operating underground and we are conducting operations. What we have been doing, of recent, is that we are picking everybody close to him; all those giving him support in one way or the other, we have picked them, we have killed his commanders. It’s just a matter of time.”

Enough of promises. Enough of showboating. General Musa should walk the talk. Nigerians are tired of waiting for this General to deliver on his promises. The military must go after Turji and his boys with venom. The Nigerian Army knows their hideouts. As at press time, the murderer called Turji was moving freely around Fakai in Zamfara State.

The Turji Bello twaddle has persisted for this long because Nigeria’s Commander-in-Chiefs in the last 15 years have failed to give deadlines to security agents. Former President Buhari failed Nigerians. Incumbent President Tinubu has also failed in this direction. Tinubu must give General Musa a deadline to “take out Turji” or forget about his job. This is the meaning of being “Commander-in-Chief.” For me, General Musa should not get more than four weeks deadline. Turji, his boys and other terrorists must fall for this country to enjoy peace.