Fear of Reprisal: Zamfara community pays condolence visit to bandits kingpin, Bello Turji

Residents of Fakai village in Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State, have paid a condolence visit to Bello Turji, a notorious bandit whose lieutenants were neutralised by the Nigerian Air Force jets on Saturday.

Turji recently featured in a viral video bragging that he would take vengeance on local communities once he was hit by the Nigerian armed forces.

According to a tweet by Idris4Peace, a source familiar with the terrain, the residents of the village where Turji also resides with his people, sympathised with him to avoid vengeance.

“We met him this morning to sympathise with him, if not he will revenge on us,” the source quoted one of the locals.

44 killed as rival Zamfara bandits clash
Eight of Turji’s fighters were neutralised in Saturday’s aerial bombardment, while four women in another camp behind his farmland were killed, according to reports.

“Prior to this, there was a naming ceremony ongoing in Turji’s house,” the researcher added.

It was further gathered that Turji and one of his allies escaped the air raid because they went to pray at a nearby mosque around 4:00 pm.

This is not the first time Turji would beat death. In December 2021, he escaped when a similar offensive was launched on his camp, killing one person and wounding scores.

According to reports, the Zamfara State Government had initially allied with Turji to help fight “unrepented” bandits in the bush. A few days later, the government said it was training some local guards to fight the same bandits.