How banditry started in Zamfara state-Notorious banditry leader Bello Turji narrates 

Notorious Banditry leader Bello Turji, in a five-minute Video responded to a background voice on the journey of banditry in Zamfara state, North-west Nigeria.

According to him, the Fulani community lived in peace and harmony with their Hausa neighbours until a former governor of the state adopted a partial Sharia Law allegedly to subjugate the Fulanis.

“I can recall how the former governor of Zamfara State, Ahmad Sani Bakura, implemented the Shariah Law,”  Turji, who entered into a failed truce with former governor Bello Matawalle, claimed.

“The law started and ended abruptly after a Fulani man (found guilty of stealing) got his hand amputated. In my opinion, I attributed the atrocities in Zamfara State to the stoppage of the law after it was partially used to amputate…”

Turji said the Bakura-led government took sides with the Hausas in implementing the law. The terror kingpin has amassed wealth from the illegal taxes he imposed on local communities. Named Muhammadu Bello at birth, one of the violent attacks by Mr Turji was in December 2021 when he burnt more than 20 travellers, including pregnant women and children, in Sokoto State.

A few weeks after that, Mr Turji wrote an open letter to former President Muhammadu Buhari and the emir of Shinkafi, outlining the terms of a ceasefire in the North-west and requesting a peace agreement. In the letter, he said he was ready to surrender his arms if his five conditions were met.

He listed the conditions as dissolution of unofficial vigilante groups in the North-west, a meeting with traditional rulers and religious leaders, a stop to the ‘marginalisation’ of Fulanis, honest discussions between bandits, traditional rulers and politicians, and the participation of first-class emirs in a security meeting.

This was after the failed truce with the Zamfara state government in 2019. Turji is among the 97 terrorists wanted wanted by the Defence Headquarters. He had escaped death twice after the air component of Operation Hadarin Daji bombed his house in 2021 and 2022. The air raids killed many of h