Bello Turji, a bandit leader, has claimed that the federal government is to blame for the ongoing banditry in the northwest and elsewhere.
He claimed that security chiefs, military personnel, and other high-ranking officials profit greatly from the inhumane activities.
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Turji stated this in a phone interview with an online Hausa television channel monitored in Gusau by Daily Post, saying that the government is duping the gullible and naive people, emphasizing that the government was not ready to salvage the situation in terms of ending the heinous menace.
“I am ready for peace or war depending on which one the government wants. It is the government that will decide which one it wants, whether peace or war”, Turji said.
According to him, there was a peace accord between him and the government in August 2022 for him to cease fire, which he did for the sake of peace.
But, within a month, on September 18th, 2022, my house at Fakai village in Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State was attacked by Nigeria Air Force operatives.
“Twelve people including my relatives died in the Air Force attack at my Fakai residence, even after the peace accord signed by both parties”
Turji said that since the peace accord reached between him and the government, people in the axis have been living very peacefully, doing their legitimate endeavours, including farming activities, undisturbed, and that community members get along well with his gang members.
Turji went on to say that the federal government sabotaged him by allowing military operatives to bombard his home and kill innocent people, claiming that the government claims to want peace but is only pretending.
“By bombing my residence and killing twelve innocent people, the federal government is provoking me to drop the peace accord which I willingly signed”
According to him, security operatives would be killing innocent and vulnerable people, destroying their property, and holding him responsible for attacks he is unaware of.
He also said that his gang members had never attacked anyone since signing the peace treaty, if not after the military attack on his residence that killed his relatives.
“I always feel embarrassed whenever my name is mentioned in one attack or the other even when the attacks were carried out by another bandits’ leader which I don’t even know, they would associate me with such attacks”
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“I want to tell the general public that the government they think is protecting them is their number one enemy.
“If the government want to end insecurity, it would do so but what the military personnel, security chiefs and other individuals are gaining from banditry can never allow them to end insecurity, especially in the north”.
