Banditry: Why Turji Bello’s Arrest is Unexciting By Ola Abdulmummini

Turji Bello, a notorious bandit/terrorist gang leader allegedly responsible for the kidnapping and death of at least one thousand Nigerians, was recently captured by the security forces.

Bello is twenty six years old and a Nigerien like most of the other terrorists/bandits operating in the northwest. He was a mean, and unfeeling animal who killed people for fun. He needed no reason to kill anyone, unleashing a reign of terror across vast swaths of territory in the northwest. He strutted around like a peacock displaying his plumes, confidently doing his thing and putting his trust in his assumed powers to unleash retribution on communities that rat on him to the security forces, power of money to bribe his way out of tight situations and African magic.

In saner clime, the citizens of Zamfara state would be rejoicing that the notorious animal called Turji Bello is now in a police cell but as usual, ‘government magic’ may still come into play and we may see Mr. Turji walking free and riding in a government car. Like the terrorists in the Northeast, someone may wake up this morning and decide that Turji Bello should be rehabilitated and reintegrated back into the society while his victims and their family members look on in impotent rage and resignation to their fate because they are not influential enough to get the wheel of justice moving in their favour.

There are thousands of Turji Bellos, who are not Nigerian citizens and with various degrees of notoriety, still walking free and nothing so far done by the government has shown the intent to send them all scampering back to their villages across the border in fear.

Nigerians need to start asking questions on why and how our country has become a haven for criminal elements from the West African countries. They move freely around and perpetrate all sorts of outrages against Nigerians but always walk free. The crimes they commit in Nigeria would earn a Nigerian citizen various levels of retribution ranging from immediate arrest and deportation, trial and on conviction, long prison sentence or a date with the hangman. How then do we explain the apparent impotence of our own security agencies in the face of invasion from foreign criminal elements? Could this be a deliberate attempt to keep us busy with trying to survive and grind out a living in the midst of a rat race economy instead of focusing on ineptitude of those elected into public office? Is the ECOWAS free movement protocol enough reason why criminals, including foreign herdsmen, are walking around with automatic weapons and nothing is ever done? How did we move from a country where rule of law used to be Supreme to a lawless country of anything goes? Who compromised our security for primordial interest?

It will take more than the ceremonial arrest of a bandit leader to strike fear into the hearts of other criminal elements in Nigeria. No government worth its mandate jokes with criminals as these vermin undermine the core duty of a government which is to protect lives and property.

We shall be watching with keen interest what happens to Turji Bello and nod our heads in a gesture of ‘I told you so’ when he is released ostensibly to work with the government or security agencies to control banditry. I just have the feeling, like most Nigerias do this morning, that Turji will be released and someone will justify it. That releasing this animal who bears the greatest responsibility for a series of crimes ranging from kidnapping, killing and maiming of children, abduction and sexual violence will be a perversion of justice may not be apparent to the empty heads in fancy caps in government. The victims and their family members will rant, rave and weep but it won’t matter because the voice of the ordinary citizens cannot be heard.

In Nigeria, you only have a voice when you have money.

Turji Bello may still manage to ‘escape from custody’ if the right calls are made on his behalf by influential persons or he could hang himself or die mysteriously while in detention or ‘shot while trying to escape’. We have seen and heard these stories before and another one will not be too much of a shock to us. It will be further confirmation of the suspicions of most Nigerians that our security agencies cannot be wholly trusted to be responsible and professional in the discharge of their duties.

We all still remember how Muhammed Yusuf, the late leader and founder of Boko haram extremist group died in suspicious circumstances in police custody. We are still wondering how a man in handcuffs, leg chain and inside a police cell attacked his guards and attempted to escape from lawful confinement.

Muhammed Yusuf is no longer around to explain the mystery of surrounding his death to us. If Turji Bello is eliminated, the template for the story is already used, tested and trusted.

I hope they prove me wrong.

Mr. Ola Abdulmummini is a seasoned security analyst with over two decades experience in post-conflict Reintegration and community reconciliation. He writes from Lagos and can be reached by email via Infocrrdpi2021@gmail.com.