Bello Turji, a notorious bandit leader terrorising some parts of Zamfara State said he will avenge the recent military bombardment on residents of the communities he lords over.
Two weeks ago, two military jets acting on rival-based intelligence, ambushed Turji’s settlement in Fakai village, Shinkafi local council.
READ: To Avert Reprisal, Locals Pay Condolence Visit to Turji over Military Invasion
Following the military invasion, locals in Fakai, paid a sympathetic visit to Turji in fear of retaliating against them.
A few days after the locals visited him, Turji said his gang will resume its havoc on harmless citizens to retaliate the forthnight invasion.
Hitherto, WikkiTimes had reported that Zamfara State Government In search of a lasting solution to punditry, signed a peace pact with Turji. Before the pact, the state government had also distributed 500 gun license forms to some emirates in Zamfara, urging locals to pick the form and confront their killers.
The pact, according to reports, included a permanent ceasefire and confronting the unrepentant bandits.
Things seems not to go well between the parties as the government would train some guards to fight the terrorists.
The state government at the time maintained that Turji would help fight his unrepented brothers in the forest. The government also formed an alliance with nine different bandit groups, urging them to lay off their arms while the bandits requested the government to dissolve and disarm the local vigilantes and that their seized properties, like land, be returned.
In a phone conversation distributed via various channels, Turji insisted that the government had violated the peace agreement which, according to him, kept some local governments in the zone peaceful for over five months.
READ: ANALYSIS: What About Zamfara Govt’s Peace Deal With Celebrated Bandit Kingpin, Bello Turji?
“It is true that we reconciled with the government and agreed that places like Shinkafi Local Government and Zurmi and some other neighbouring places would continue to enjoy peace,” Turji said.
He disclosed that he had helped the government capture some bandits during the period. “But we will now resume attacks on masses on which the government is killing us because of them,” he vowed. “If the government is killing us because of the masses, we kill the masses in return as a reprisal.”
He insisted that the masses would pay the price of government’ counter-attacks. “it is the masses that will suffer,” he said “It is not Bello Turji they want to kill, it’s masses they want to kill.”
According to the bandits’ leader, peace has returned to the zone in the last 6 months with farming and businesses going uninterrupted.
Turji further urged the government to stop haunting them (bandits), saying, “we are not a political movement or rebellious separatists.”
In his words, both state and federal governments are not serious about the return of peace in the zone, and therefore no distinction between them.
Turji concluded that he will return to the forest, from where he and his team will be waylaying unsuspecting citizens.
“I give you one month you will see how things will be”, he threatened.
