It’s Surprising I Became A Bandit – Turji – Newstrends
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It’s Surprising I Became A Bandit – Turji

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3 years ago

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Bello Turji

A notorious bandit, Bello Turji, has opened up on his past, leading to his becoming one of the most dreaded bandits terrorising communities, especially in the northwestern part of Nigeria.

Bandits like Turji have been terrorising villages in northern Nigeria for years, killing thousands of people and displacing a lot more. They also engage in isolated and mass abductions, including students in at least 10 schools in less than a year.

In a recent report, Daily Trust chronicled how hundreds of thousands of villagers had been displaced from their settlements, with many of them seeking refuge in Niger Republic and other Nigerian cities as governments in the affected states fail to provide camps for displaced persons.

In an exclusive chat aired as part of a Trust TV documentary, tagged ‘Nigeria’s Banditry: The Inside Story,’ Turji, who hails from Fakai village of Shinkafi Local Government in Zamfara State, however, said it was unbelievable to people who knew him that he strayed into the criminal activity.

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In separate clips streamed at an event to premier the documentary in Abuja on Friday, Turji said his first experience of slaughtering a human being was on a market day at Shinkafi.

“I hadn’t taken up arms by then. I was herding cattle. Then, if my father wanted to sell any of his cows, I would take it to the market for him. After I sold it I would come to the emir’s compound before returning home in the evening.

“The Emir of Shinkafi knows me. He knew me from many years ago. If he is told that Turji would become a bandit he would not believe it because he knew we Fulani could not become rustlers. But it was what they were doing to us that became unbearable.”

Turji’s claim was in reference to the activities of community self-help volunteer force called Yan Sakai, whose ruthlessness, he said, made him and some other Fulani youths to become bandits.

A researcher in the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Dr Abubakar Siddique-Mohammed, interviewed as part of the 29-minute documentary, acknowledged that the activities of the volunteer force inflamed  the banditry problem across the affected states.

In the ethnic tension brought out by the documentary, both sides of the conflict had engaged in ruthless killings over the claim of self protection or vengeance.

Speaking on restrictions placed in September last year to suppress the activities of the bandits, Turji said, “It is not right to deny Fulani entry into Shinkafi; it’s a local government for all citizens. If you deny Fulani entry, where are they supposed to go?

“If you buy just a measure of maize, they confiscate it; or if you buy a loaf of bread they will say you are buying it for Turji. Is it only Turji who eats out of all the people here?

“Let me ask you; isn’t this a gun? Is it those who failed to prevent the circulation of arms in Nigeria that will prevent us from buying petrol, which even a little kid knows where it can be obtained?”

The bandits’ leader recounted an attack on his family, saying, “Over 1,000 cattle were taken away from us. On that day, six of our little siblings were killed.

“Our parents went through all the courts, but they couldn’t get back their cattle. They also connived with Yan Sakai and slaughtered my uncle. Where then does a commoner seek redress?”

He also accused Yan Sakai volunteers of connivance with security agents to harass and extort the Fulani. 

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“They arrest innocent people and lock them up, and if you ask, they say it is because of corn stalks.  You will be fined N500,000, and you must pay, for fear of incarceration.

“I will swear with the Qur’an that the Emir of Shinkafi knows about this. My father was involved in a court case for seven years over corn stalks. Just for corn stalks!”

Turji denounced connections between bandits liking him with Boko Haram elements, saying they have no political agenda.

“We are not interested in establishing any religious organisation. We are not aspiring to have a territory of our own, and we don’t have any political aspiration. We took up arms to protect the lives of our people that are being killed, it is not just because we are merciless or we are unconscious of Allah who created us.”

Some of the victims recalled horrendous experiences from bandits who attacked their communities.

Zainab Ibrahim from Zurmi, whose child was killed and she was abducted and held for two months, recounted her experience.

“Three of them picked my husband and left with him. I was surrounded by six men with their AK rifles and headlamps

“I was sleeping when they grabbed me and my son. They were told he (my husband) had escaped and they said there was no problem since they had us

“My son and I held tight to each other. One of them said, ‘Bring him here so that we slaughter him or we shoot two of them.’ 

“They snatched him from me. He was crying, I was crying too. By the time they seized him I passed out. They laid down him and slaughtered him.”

A young girl identified as Hauwa said her parents were killed when the bandits stormed their house to rob her father. 

Speaking during the screening of the documentary in Abuja, experts and stakeholders called for genuine dialogue and the involvement of the traditional institutions to tackle banditry in parts of the country.

The event, organised by the Media Trust Limited and the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), featured a panel discussion and open mic conversation on the banditry problem.

‘Abuja solutions not enough’

A panel discussant and lecturer from the Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Dr Murtala Rufai, maintained that solutions being proffered in Abuja, the seat of power would not end banditry in the North-West.

Rufai disclosed that bandits see themselves as freedom fighters who have an axe to grind with the government.

The university don called on the federal government to ensure that traditional institutions are empowered to oversee their domains as it was in the past.

He said, “The problem of rural banditry in Zamfara and other places in the North-West is actually a fundamental and basically a local problem. In my opinion, it is a local problem that actually requires a local solution.

‘Reveal funding sources’

On its part, the Kaduna State Government insisted that the bandits were criminals hell-bent on destroying peace in the country.

The Commissioner for Internal Security and Home affairs, Samuel Aruwan, who was part of the screening, reiterated the state government’s position that it would not negotiate with the criminals.

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He said it was high time the economic activities of the bandits were probed to know how they are being funded, which gives them easy access to arms and ammunition.

Dialogue with hardened criminals a waste of time – Dambazzau 

In the same vein, a former Minister of Interior, General Abdulrahman Dambazzau, faulted claims made by the bandits’ kingpin, Turji, saying dialogue with hardened criminals is a waste of time.

He explained that the criminal groups had links, and they should not use their situation to victimise innocent travellers or motorists if they have genuine cases.  

“I think there is the need to distinguish between those criminals and those who are genuinely struggling for whatever is happening to them.

“There is a need to distinguish between them if you say there should be dialogue. This is because you can’t dialogue with hardened criminals.

“If people have genuine cases you can sit down and dialogue with them and know precisely what their problems are and how to sort them out,” he said.

A Media Trust director, Mannir Dan Ali, in his welcome address, explained that the documentary was meant to understand the issue of insecurity, particularly banditry across the regions.

“This is something that has been there for quite a while. And we are still grappling with its implications and what it means for not just Nigeria, but the Sahel region as well. And probably Africa at large,” Dan-Ali said.

He also commended the CDD for the collaboration with MTL, comprising the newspapers and the Trust TV, the television arm of the MTL.   

Also, the Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission (BHC), Gill Atkinson, represented by the conflict adviser, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Sophie Stephen, said the FCDO had been supporting the CDD and partners in this project.  

She noted that they were collaborating with the CDD on a project called Strengthening the Delivery of Peace and Security. She said the project aimed to counter misinformation and promote evidence-based sensitive discussions, public discourse and reporting to try to promote peace and social cohesion in Nigeria.  

“I am representing a foreign government, which is very happy to be a close partner in Nigeria and others. And on behalf of the UK, I want to express first our deep sympathy with some of the events of this documentary,” she said.

According to her, as a human being she stands with the country, and is often saddened by some of the events being witnessed.

She also commended reporters who risked their lives to get these stories.

“I really hugely respect and admire your work and that of others here who are doing that to try and find the truth of some of these very complex and multi layers of situations.

“My hope is that it would inspire new approaches, ideas and ways that would ultimately bring peace to the people affected,” she added.

Daily Trust

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Osun man on death row for fowl theft shares how police subjected 17-year-old self to torture

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December 22, 2024

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Osun man on death row for fowl theft shares how police subjected 17-year-old self to torture

Segun Olowookere, a man who was sentenced to death for stealing fowls in Osun State when he was 17, has recounted how the police tortured and gave him a cutlass used as an exhibit against him as a minor in court.

FIJ had earlier reported that Governor Ademola Adeleke planned to pardon Olowookere after news of how Justice Sakariya Oyejide Falola sentenced Olowookere and Morakinyo Sunday to death in 2014 broke out.

Olowookere was charged in court with conspiracy, armed robbery and stealing. It was on these grounds that Falola delivered his judgment.

Olowookere and Sunday spent some days at a police station in Okuku before their arraignment and conviction. Olowookere said that the police gave them one cutlass each while at the station for weeding the premises.

However, the two of them were later transferred to Osogbo, the state capital, with the cutlasses. These cutlasses were later presented before the judge as exhibits of an armed robbery offence, Olowookere told The Punch in an interview on Sunday.

HOW HE WAS ARRESTED

Now in a custodial centre working with a medical team, Olowookere said he gave himself up for the arrest in November 2010.

“I was at my father’s shop in Oyan after returning from school. My dad and I were discussing my university admission and suddenly, we heard gunshots, and everybody ran away except my dad and a few others,” he narrated.

“My father was taken to a police van where there were some children. I was peeping out and could hear and see what was going on. The police asked my dad where I was and he asked them what my offence was. When they couldn’t give him a satisfactory response, my father shouted at the top of his voice that I should run away because the police wanted to arrest me.

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“But I was wondering what my offence was. So, I came out and went to meet them. I was detained at the police post in Oyan and was taken to Okuku Divisional Police Headquarters the following day. I met the children who were in the police van when they came for me sitting on the ground and eating rice.”

THEY WERE GIVEN CUTLASSES

Olowookere recalled that the divisional police officer (DPO) heading the station at the time accused him of being a leader of an armed robbery gang consisting of teenage children.

Some days after his arrest, his parents were still making efforts to secure his bail. While this was ongoing, the police engaged them in labour, giving them a cutlass each to cut the grasses at the station.

“The DPO told me that one of the children confessed to stealing two broilers and some crates of eggs. I met the broilers and the eggs at the station,” he said.

“The children were eight in number. He told me the children said I was their gang leader, which I denied. The children he was talking about were around 12 and 13 years old, while I was 17 then. I told him I knew the children but I didn’t have anything to do with them other than greeting them in the community.

“I met Sunday Morakinyo at the station, and he told the police that he didn’t know me nor had anything to do with me. I don’t even know where he was arrested. All the children were released but Morakinyo and I were not.

“We were seriously tortured from the first day I got to the Okuku Police Station under the supervision of the DPO. The children who allegedly committed the crime were not beaten. He repeatedly asked me to admit and confess to a crime I didn’t commit.

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“After some days, we were given cutlasses to cut the grass at the police station premises despite having injuries on every part of our body as a result of the torture.”

BAIL SUM BEYOND HIS PARENTS

Olowookere’s father was asked to produce N30,000 for his bail, but his father could only raise N20,000, and the police would not cut down this financial bail demand.

His father then left the station, perhaps to gather the shortfall of N10,000. Before his father could return, the police had ferried them to Osogbo.

“My father could only raise N20,000 out of the N30,000 they demanded. The police rejected it and insisted on the N30,000,” Olowookere said.

“My dad left the station to look for the money. But before he returned the following day, we had been moved to the SARS office in Osogbo. The cutlasses that were given to me and Morakinyo to cut the grass were presented to SARS as exhibits and they were told we were armed robbers.

“After 17 days in the SARS cell, we were taken to a magistrate court and charged with robbery, and from there to the High Court, where we were sentenced to death.”

The poultry farm from which they were alleged to have stolen fowls belonged to one of his uncles.

Despite initially promising not to pursue the case against him, the uncle went on to testify in court against him.

“We are from the same Ajerotutu Compound in Oyan. He was summoned to a family meeting where he said I was not among those who stole the fowls, but my name was mentioned by the children who were arrested,” Olowookere explained.

“He told the family that he would discontinue the case. But he later came to court to testify against me.

“I never wrote any statement to the police. My parents never had a flat, not to mention a six-bedroom flat. I lived with my parents until I was arrested.”

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Asked why his lawyer didn’t object to the statement during the trial, Olowookere said, “I didn’t know anything, but I am sure I didn’t write any statement.”

SUNDAY SUFFERS MENTAL ILLNESS

As a result of the torture they received at the police station before arraignment, Sunday began to bleed from several parts of his body.

Eventually, this bleeding led to his becoming mentally ill, according to Olowookere.

“He is now a mad person. He is at Ibara Prison. He developed mental issues when we were tortured at the police station in Okuku and by the officers of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad. I am just lucky, and I believe God’s grace is over me,” he said.

“Morakinyo was bleeding from the anus, ears, nose and on the head. The police did not treat him despite that. I cleaned the cell every day because his blood stained the floor. He was bleeding for the entire six days we spent inside the Okuku police cell before we were transferred to the SARS cell in Osogbo.

“We spent 17 days with SARS and Morakinyo bled every day. Some of the SARS officers noticed that he was not mentally normal again but others thought he was pretending, and from there, he developed full mental issues.

“When we were remanded at Ilesa Custodial Centre, the warders tried to manage his mental health but they didn’t have the capacity. His condition then worsened. As I am talking to you, he doesn’t recognise anybody again. His mother has stopped checking up on him.”

Olowookere said he was hopeful that he would regain his freedom someday to pursue his academic studies and become useful to the world.

“I first enrolled in Yewa College of Education, Abeokuta, Ogun State, after my sentence. It is my dream to study medicine, but it is not available at a college of education. I was later transferred to a maximum prison in 2016. But due to financial constraints, I couldn’t study my dream course,” he explained.

“However, I was encouraged to train under the medical practitioners in the prison. So, I applied and I was accepted into the medical line in 2017. Since then, I have been working with the nurses, pharmacists and doctors inside the prison.

“I believe I will be free one day, and when I regain my freedom, I will definitely go for medicine. I pray to God to set me free because I am innocent.

“I don’t know anything about the crime I am convicted for. I pray to God to give me the opportunity to prove my innocence to the world and be useful to society. I am not a criminal; I have never stolen anything in my life, not to talk of robbing somebody.”

Osun man on death row for fowl theft shares how police subjected 17-year-old self to torture

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Oil cabal sponsoring blackmails against Tompolo, Otuaro, Kyari, say Ijaw youths

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December 22, 2024

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Chairman of Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo)

Oil cabal sponsoring blackmails against Tompolo, Otuaro, Kyari, say Ijaw youths

Stakeholders under the Ijaw Youths Network (IYN) have alleged a well-coordinated international blackmail campaign against High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (Tompolo), Chairman of Tantita Security Services; Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL); and Dr. Dennis Otuaro, Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP).

In a statement issued on Sunday by its President, Frank Ebikabo, and Secretary, Federal Ebiaridor, the IYN accused a cabal of oil thieves of sponsoring the campaign to undermine the successes of Tantita Security Services and other security outfits in combating oil theft.

The group specifically condemned a staged protest outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, describing it as a smear campaign filled with false criminal allegations against Tompolo, Kyari, and Otuaro.

The IYN called on the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and others entrusted with the nation’s security to ensure a thorough investigation of persons behind the blackmail and bring them to justice in the interest of national security.

The stakeholders also urged President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to be resolute in sustaining the reversal of the evils of oil theft against Nigeria and her citizens.

The IYN stressed that oil thieves and their operatives armed with billions of ill-gotten resources were funding the recurrent attacks on Tompolo, Kyari and Otuaro.

The youths insisted that a virulent cabal of oil thieves with a vast network across international boundaries was on the  rampage to orchestrate the campaign targeting the economy of the country and its leadership.

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The IYN said that the oil thieves were pooling resources together with their international collaborators to undermine the President, national security and the nation’s economy.

The group said that it was not unexpected that the deadly cabal that almost ruined the economy of the country by stealing billions of petro dollars would not give up their lucrative crime without a fight.

The IYN said that the achievement of the Tinubu Administration which had been able to attain 1.8m barrels of crude oil per day, after serious efforts into the battle against oil thieves should be protected from such influential, deadly gang.

The IYN added some of those fighting Tompolo, Kyari and Otuaro were persons, who pressed to be appointed Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme without success.

The Ijaw youths groups said that the antecedents of Otuaro and his capacity to deepen consultations and sustenance of peace in the Niger Delta might be hurting those behind the campaign of calumny in the region.

The group called on all sister organizations in the Niger Delta to support the campaign against oil theft, Tantita Security Service Limited, the NNPCL and the PAP leadership.

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The group said: “We are shocked at the extent to which this deadly cabal of oil thieves can go to orchestrate a campaign of calumny against hardworking people carrying out their lawful responsibilities in the Niger Delta.

“Of course, nobody expects a group of extremely wealthy, connected and influential people who has been involved in oil theft, stealing billions for years to go away without resistance.

“The show of shame in front of the UN headquarters is a most reprehensible attack on the country image, the President, national security and our economy.

“The unpatriotic characters are conniving with enemies of Nigeria in their criminal bid to bring back the dark days of oil theft and its impact on the nation’s economy.

“We call on the President, to be firm in sustaining what is good for Nigeria. Tompolo, and Tantita have shown that it is not impossible to stop the menace of oil theft as shown by the daily production of oil to 1.8 million barrels per day,

“We also urge the Mr Kyari and Dr Otuaro to be firm in carrying out their official responsibilities to this great country. That oil thieves are focusing attacks on the, shows in clear terms that their actions are suffocating their evil activities in the region.”

Oil cabal sponsoring blackmails against Tompolo, Otuaro, Kyari, say Ijaw youths

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NURTW scribe felicitates Nigerians on Xmas, urges caution 

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9 hours ago

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December 22, 2024

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NURTW scribe felicitates Nigerians on Xmas, urges caution 

 

The General Secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Comrade Kayode Agbeyangi, has enjoined Nigerians to imbibe the virtues of peace, love and compassion as taught through the birth of Jesus Christ.

He stated this in his Christmas and end of the year goodwill message to felicitate members of the union and Nigerians in general.

Agbeyangi urged Nigerians to use the festive season to reflect on the values of love, compassion, and sacrifice that Jesus Christ embodied.

“This period is not for merry making alone; we should also spare time to reflect on the birth and life of Jesus Christ.

“His birth teaches humility, love compassion and sacrifice. As Nigerians, we must show love to our fellow county men. We must love our country. As Nigerians, we must be ready to make sacrifices for the nation.”

The NURTW scribe also used the opportunity to appeal to members of the union and other road users to always exercise caution and adhere to all safety protocols while travelling during the festive season.

“As we celebrate, let us not forget the importance of road safety. The roads can be treacherous, especially during the festive season.

“I urge our members and all road users to drive safely, avoid overspending, overtaking at dangerous bends and overloading, and be courteous to other road users,” he stated.

He also advised drivers that all their vehicle papers should be up to date to avoid embarrassment from law enforcement officers on the highways.

Comrade Agbeyangi prayed for a peaceful and joyous celebration, and wished members of the union and Nigerians, a happy prosperous New Year.

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