Cowherd to warlord: A Nigeria bandit’s tale | Tellwell Newspaper
Tellwell Newspaper, Abuja – Nigeria:
By Aminu ABUBAKAR with Alexandre MARTINS LOPES in Lagos
At the age of 28, Bello Turji is already one of Nigeria’s most-wanted men — a cattle herder who has helped transform parts of the country’s northwest into killing fields.
Despite his frail appearance, Turji leads a gang several hundred strong that roams the states of Zamfara, Sokoto and Katsina, earning him a reputation for crime and cruelty.
For years, heavily armed criminal gangs have carried out attacks with impunity across the northwest and centre of the country, killing thousands.
Evolving from ethnic clashes between herders and sedentary farmers sparked by a fight over resources, the violence has morphed into a wider conflict, fuelled by arms trafficking.
Before next week’s presidential election, parts of the country remain controlled by such armed groups, whose leaders are able to raise taxes and extort local people.
Turji, 28, is one of the most notorious.
He is the only one to have given interviews, typically wearing a turban, military camouflage and a gun on his shoulder.
– Bandit to warlord –
Born in 1994 in Zamfara’s Shinkafi district to a wealthy Fulani herding family, Turji was educated only to primary-school level, something that is common in rural areas in Nigeria.
But he did receive basic Islamic education at the local Koranic school.
“Bello Turji knows nothing but rural life, where everything starts and ends with cattle. It is the source of livelihood, political power, prestige,” said Professor Murtala Rufai of the Usman Danfodio University.
“Now he has become a warlord, controlling a large number of bandit groups and territories. From a cattle rustler to bandit, bandit to kingpin, kingpin to warlord.”
He has blamed his turn to cattle rustling on the theft of his family’s own herd in 2011, a reason given by many criminals, known here as bandits, who abruptly lost their livelihoods.
He said he took up arms after a vigilante group killed his six siblings, murders that he said went “unpunished”.
As Nigeria’s population has exploded, land has become subject to fierce competition.
Conflicts over crops, water pollution and cattle theft have become ever more widespread.
In rural areas, many have armed themselves and joined gangs or vigilante groups set to defend villages.
Zamfara authorities estimate there are now 30,000 “bandits” in the northwest as well as in vigilante groups, which are likewise accused of arbitrary killings.
Active in Zamfara, parts of which are now lawless, Turji is blamed for the deaths of hundreds of people, sparing no one in his raids.
In December 2021, he ordered his men to surround a packed bus and set it on fire.
Twenty-three civilians, including pregnant women, were burned alive.
– ‘A deadly name’ –
The mass killing “created a serious lot of attention, he became something,” Rufai said.
It was the media spotlight that has brought Turji widespread recognition, even though other warlords are deadlier, he said.
“Turji is the first name that rings the bell today, a deadly name.”
His high profile has made him a leading target for the security forces, according to Rufai who suggested Turji had stepped out of the shadows to engage in dialogue with the authorities.
He has called for an end to discrimination against his ethnic Fulani and the dissolution of vigilante groups, which he accuses of killing his siblings.
In August 2022, a peace deal was reached with local authorities in Zamfara but the army bombed Turji’s house in his absence during a religious ceremony for his newborn.
Twelve people were killed, including his elder brother.
After the incident, the bandit leader issued a thinly veiled threat to the authorities.
“Whatever, the government wants, we can give them a multitude,” he said.
AFP
