Renowned security analyst and counterinsurgency expert Zagazola Makama has raised fresh concerns over escalating insecurity in Sokoto State, revealing that dreaded bandit warlord Bello Turji has been sighted in the region, where he is allegedly extorting villages.
Makama, in a post on his official X handle, reported that a member of the Sokoto State House of Assembly, Aminu Boza, has sounded the alarm, disclosing that Turji has imposed a staggering ₦25 million levy per village in parts of Isa and Sabon Birni local government areas.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday, Hon. Aminu Boza warned that Turji’s resurgence poses a serious threat to the already fragile security situation in the state.
> “Bello Turji is currently in the Isa and Sabon Birni axis of Sokoto. He has even imposed a ₦25 million levy per village in some communities,” Boza revealed.
He lamented that rural communities are now at the mercy of bandits, forced to pay outrageous sums to avoid deadly attacks.
Bello Turji, one of Nigeria’s most notorious bandit leaders, has long been linked to kidnappings, killings, and large-scale extortion in Sokoto, Zamfara, and Katsina states. His reappearance in Sokoto has reignited fears of intensified bandit operations in the North-West.
Hon. Boza urged security agencies, local vigilantes, and the federal government to take decisive action, warning that if left unchecked, Turji’s reign of terror could spiral into an even greater security catastrophe.
“The government must act swiftly. Our communities cannot continue to live under the rule of criminal warlords,” he stressed.
With the Nigerian military and security agencies under pressure to dismantle bandit networks, it remains to be seen whether decisive action will be taken against Turji and his armed network before more villages fall victim to his tyranny.
The sighting of Bello Turji in Sokoto is yet another grim reminder that Nigeria’s fight against banditry is far from over.
PIONEER NEWS 