By Ikeddy ISIGUZO
BELLO Turji is not an an ordinary bandit. He sets his rules, enforces them, while wondering why he is grossly misunderstood. If you ask him, he would tell you he is in search of justice.
Why is it difficult for people to agree that he desereves justice? If justice does not come can’t he do something about it? Would he wait indefinitely for justice even when nobody has promised him justice or fulfiled terms of earlier agreements?
The banditry kingpin of Zamfara, as one newspaper called him, has reached that flank Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, and Niger States. There is no banditry incident in the North-West that does not have his approval, reports suggest. He is not apologetic, or remorseful over hundreds that his followers have killed. He claims to be protecting Fulanis and their cattle. It is a battle in which he accuses Hausas of killing Fulani’s without consequences.
Turji could go this far because Nigeria indulged him. Governors were holding meetings with him. He made promises that he never kept leading negotiators to lose confidence in him. But imagine negotiating with bandits and letting them back to their hideouts!
Governor Aminu Masari was angry with a reporter who mentioned Turji’s name in an interview. “Dialogue? With who? Who is he to talk of dialogue or ceasefire? He is a liar. He can’t tell us peace accord and dialogue. To sit and discuss peace accord with who? In what capacity is he speaking and even calling for dialogue,” Masari said about Turji’s open letter asking for dialogue as Nigeria’s military pounded his positions in December 2021.
Masari was used to negotiations with other groups but miffed by any suggestion that he should dialogue with Turji. “Go and tell those he (Mr Turji) killed their families to do dialogue with him and see. And he is even setting conditions,” Masari reacted to the Hause Service of Deutsche Welle, the German international radio station.
In a March 22 interview with Sunday Trust, Turji sold himself as the victim of an uncaring society that paved advantages for Hausas to kill Fulanis and rustle their cattle. He complained about the vigilante group, Yan Sakai, which he said killed his family, took their cattle, which turned him into a bandit, for revenge.
“What they were doing to us became unbearable. Why was it unbearable? He (the emir) knew, over a thousand cattle were taken away from us and taken to Yan Biki through Magarya, and then to Zurmi. They were held by the emir of Zurmi for two weeks. That day, six of our little siblings were killed.
“Our parents went through all the courts but they couldn’t get back their cows. And they also caught my uncle and slaughtered him. Where then does a common person seek redress?,” Turji asked.
Why is he still engaged in killlings, almost a decade after the incident? Turji gave a long explanation of the tribulations of Fulanis.
“They are killing our people, and neither the government nor the security agents did anything; no highly placed person denounced what was being done. That is why we organised boys to go and kill those people, too; so that they will do something about it.
“Soldiers killed our fellow herdsmen. They killed our people in their houses; innocent people. We informed the army captain at Sabon Birni. At that time, there was peace, and we used to inform them about the situation in the villages. The soldiers, just because of cornstalks, went about killing people. That’s why we organised and took revenge.
“If the government tells them to stop killing our people, we too will stop the killings. If you buy even a measure of maize, they confiscate it; or if you buy a loaf of bread they will say you’re buying it for Turji. Is it only Turji who eats out of all the people here? This is heartless.
“Yes, for example, some of our people get intercepted while travelling by vigilantes or corrupt policemen. They place a heavy levy on them that they must pay. For that, I must also impose a tax on other people.
“The Yan Sakai snitch on us to the security agents who extort us. They arrest innocent people and lock them up and if you ask they say it is because of cornstalks. You will be fined N500,000 and you must pay for fear of going to jail.
“I will swear with the Qur’an that the Emir of Shinkafi knows about this. All the district heads in Shinkafi know this; the district head of Fakai too knows this. My father was involved in a court case for seven years over cornstalks. Just cornstalks! And he went through all the courts, including the one in Abuja.
“I swear to Allah that in our household we had over 100 cows, but we were left with just 20. You can confirm all that I have told you from the traditional rulers. I can bring the defendant (in my father’s court case); the case dragged on for years, since I was small and lasted till my adulthood. There is also nowhere that our parents did not go to get justice over the confiscation of our lands,” Turji told Sunday Trust.
Turji sounds pathetic because people keep wondering for how long he would kill, kidnap, collect ransoms, impose taxes, to revenge his people’s losses.
Aged, about 30, for how long would he continue the killings? How many more people would he kill before he stops? The deadline for his latest demand passed last Wednesday.
Turji imposed a levy of N50 million on the people of Moriki, a community in Zurmi, Zamfara State. He confirmed the demand and the threat to kill more people if payment was not made by Wednesday.
“Yes, we imposed a N50 million levy on Moriki, but they have killed our brothers and 11 herds of cattle. So calculate it, it’s 1,707… So call anyone in Moriki to prove me wrong,” Turji posted on a social media handle. His claims included that a herd of camels was also killed. Turji said Hausas were responsible for the killing of innocent Fulani people and their livestock. He vowed to continue waging war against the Hausas until the killing of Fulanis stopped.
His latest threat is to ensure Hausas did not farm in the next farming season because of how they threat Fulanis.
Are security agencies unable to get Turji and bring him to justice? The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, said Turji’s days were numbered. Turji would soon be captured, General Musa said.
Many are hoping that happens. It is believed that a Turji arrest would weaken the activities of bandits on the North West flank and possibly open the zone up for legal solid mineral mining that could boost the revenues of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
There are intentional narratives to divert attention from illegal mining as a main factor that keeps North-West forests in everlasting conflicts.
Turji would not talk about that.
Finally…
WHATEVER Governor Abdullahi Sule is doing in Nasarawa that draws droves of Chinese mining firms to the State, and makes them to sign Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the solid mineral-bearing communities, taking the needs of the indigenes into consideration, looks good. If these agreements work, the devastations that mineral explorations cause would be vastly ameliorated. One of the most recent signings came with a “signature bonus” of $1 million. Half of the amount, about N800 million would go to the indigenous communities for projects of their choice, outside corporate society responsibility projects the company would execute. The State Government keeps the other half. Only Nasarawa seems to have discovered this revenue source.
•ISIGUZO is a major commentator on minor issues.
