‘Why insecurity persists in Zamfara’ —Bandit leader, Bello Turji

The leader of the notorious bandit group in Zamfara, Bello Turji, on Sunday explained why insecurity persisted in Zamfara.

In a chat with Daily Trust in Gusau, Turji accused the state government of dishonesty in the handling of negotiation with terrorists in the state.

He asked the government to pacify the bandits after repeated breakdown in peace pacts.

He accused the government of reneging on agreements with the bandits.

Governor Bello Matawalle said in September last year the state government was no longer interested in dialogue with bandits after they rejected the initial olive branch extended to them.

He stressed that instead of dialogue, security agents would go all out to send them packing from the state.

A report by the American Security Project Report last year revealed that at least 200,000 people were displaced from communities in Northern Nigeria with 77,000 of them crossing the border in search of safer abodes outside the country.

READ ALSO: Police dismisses report on relocation of Zamfara bandit leader, Turji Bello, to Kwara forest

Turji said: “What happened to the peace pacts was that everyone knows how we are: we are human. We cannot guarantee to keep all the promises we made, but the leaders ought to be steadfast and pacify us.

“We were able to get some of our people to lay down their arms, and there was some level of peace but the government turned its back on us and broke its promises.”

He also slammed the media for reporting that the bandits had been flushed out of the enclave and warned against the politicisation of the situation by selfish individuals.

He added: “Because of the people that are being killed who have no idea what is going on in the country. There is fake news in the media that we are being defeated. I consider the loss of lives while the people are being lied to that we are being defeated.

“I pity the lives being wasted, both the Fulani and Hausa; so I thought we should come together and live in peace and that we shouldn’t use the insecurity situation for politics.”

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