Sani Shinkafi, a security expert, has said that the Nigeria government thwarted the capture of a bandit leader, Bello Turji, by the Civilian Joint Security Task Force (CJTF) in Zamfara State, Nigeria’s north-west.
Mr Shinkafi, a former chairperson of Committee on Security and Prosecution of Armed Bandits in Zamfara, spoke when he appeared as a guest on Channels TV’s The Morning Brief on Thursday.
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Banditry in Zamfara State
Like Sokoto State in the North-west, Zamfara State has been plagued by a series of terrorist attacks by hoodlums locally referred to as bandits.
Hundreds of people have been killed and millions displaced in the attacks.
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The bandits are often led by Mr Turji who has been terrorising the North-western states of Zamfara and Sokoto, imposing levies on helpless residents and killing many of them.
In response, the Zamfara State Government recruited hundreds of persons into the CJTF to complement efforts of conventional security operatives to fight banditry in the state.
The government, in January 2024, set up the Community Protection Guards (CPG) also known as Askarawa to help in the fight against banditry in the state.
‘How Nigerian govt foiled attack on Bello Turji’
Mr Shinkafi, during the TV programme, said the Nigerian government halted an attack which would have resulted in the capture of the bandit leader and killing of his foot soldiers.
The security expert, who hails from Zamfara State, said, during an operation, some village chiefs had deployed both CJTF and CPG operatives to a forest in Shinkafi Local Government Area of the state to battle Mr Turji and his foot soldiers.
“As the fight continued, they were about to capture (Bello) Turji. Many of his foot soldiers were killed in hundreds.
“But the federal government (of Nigeria) halted the fight (against Turji). And told them (CJTF and CPG) to go back and settle at the Shinkafi (LGA) and that they (federal government) were going to use dialogue to settle with Bello Turji,” he narrated.
“So if the government had allowed this civilian JTF to continue advancing to the bandits camp, I assure you Bello Turji could have been a history by now.”
Mr Shinkafi recalled that Mr Turji later rejected the dialogue spearheaded by some community and religious leaders, insisting that he would not be part of the dialogue since Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara was not involved.
He did not, however, mention when the incident happened. But there are indications it happened between late 2024 and early 2025.
Meanwhile, Governor Lawal has consistently maintained that he would not negotiate with bandits.
Why CJTF operatives are struggling to defeat banditry
Mr Shinkafi said the CJTF operatives have been struggling to defeat bandits in Zamfara because there was no operational support from conventional security operatives.
He said there was a time the civilian JTF killed some of the bandits and advanced to attack Mr Turji but received no support.
“A lot of victories had been made because some of these (Turji’s) lieutenants were killed by these civilian JTF. And when these civilian JTF went to fight with Bello Turji, the military and other security agencies backed out (from the operation),” he said.
“And there was no operational support.”
He also said defeating Mr Turji has been difficult because, unlike the bandits, the operatives have poor knowledge of the state’s terrain.
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“The terrain (to the bandits hideout) is not motorable. It’s very deplorable. And these bandits know this terrain more than the civilian JTF because the civilian JTF (operatives) are not indigenes of the state,” he said.
Presidency silent
When contacted on Thursday, Bayo Onanuga, the spokesperson to President Bola Tinubu, referred a PREMIUM TIMES reporter to Usman Zakari, a media aide to the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
Mr Zakari did not respond to several calls and a text message seeking his comments, more than a day after.
