Turji’s Gang Dares DHQ, Abducts 10 Zamfara Passengers, Burns Vehicle

Bandits suspected to be foot soldiers of a notorious bandits’ leader, Bello Turji, have reportedly abducted 10 passengers and burnt their vehicle along Kaura-Namoda-Shinkafi Road in Zamfara State.

This was coming a day after the Defence Headquarters declared Turji “a dead man walking,” vowing that he and other terror masterminds would not live beyond 2025.

The Director, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Edward Buba, had during an end-of-the-year briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, addressed Turji’s threat, saying that his days were numbered.

He said, “Indeed, Bello Turji is merely a dead man walking. It will be insulting to try to take issues or join words with a terrorist. Before him, there were other terrorists who boasted that they would deal with security forces. Today they have all been taken out. We will do the same with other terrorist leaders like him.

“All these terrorist leaders that we are seeing today, before them, there were some that thought that they were champion upon champion. Where are they? They are buried. They are dead. And I assure you that those of them that are leaders today, commanders or whatever they call themselves, just watch out. I will, from this platform, tell you we have buried them (terrorist leaders) on the battlefield because that is their fate in 2025. They are dead.”

Osun Defender reports that Turji had warned that he would resume the abduction and killing of innocent people in Zamfara and Sokoto states if his brother, Baka Wurgi, who is currently in military custody, was not released on or before the end of December 2024.

Wurgi was admitted to the Shinkafi General Hospital where military personnel whisked him away from his hospital bed.

Turji threatened to launch attacks on the people of the area if Wurgi continued to be with the military.

The first attack was launched by the bandits, suspected to be Turji’s boys, on Kaura-Namoda-Shinkafi Road following the expiration of the deadline given to the military to release Wurgi.

It was learnt that bandits ambushed the passenger vehicle around 8 am while conveying 10 passengers to Shinkafi town from Gusau, the Zamfara State capital.

The incident occurred at Kwanar Jalab village in Zungeru Ward, Shinkafi LGA.

According to an indigene of the area, Garba Sani, the bandits abducted all the passengers in the vehicle and finally set the vehicle on fire.

Sani maintained that this was the first time the bandits were burning down a vehicle after abducting passengers.

“This is the first time we are witnessing this sad event for bandits to burn a vehicle after they abducted the passengers.

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“They used to kidnap people along the road, but they have never burnt vehicles after an operation,” Sani said.

He said the incident was most likely linked to Turji’s threat over the detention of his brother.

“You are aware that Bello Turji had threatened to launch attacks in response to the arrest of his relative Wurgi. What happened on this road could be as a result of the threat by Turji to force the government to release his brother Baka Wurgi,” Sani said.