Bello Matawalle, Nigeria’s minister of defence, was governor of Zamfara State between 2019 and 2023. In that period, Matawalle’s government deemed one of Nigeria’s most wanted terrorists repentant.
In late August, footage surfaced on X showing bandits jubilating around a Mines Resistant Armour Personnel (MRAP) vehicle that belonged to the military stuck in a muddy spot.
The video clip showed terrorists who worked with Bello Turji, a notorious bandit leader, dressed in military uniform chanting victory slogans.
“Bello Turji has seized two trucks. Nigerian Army, Bello Turji is coming for you. Insha Allah, if you don’t allow peace to reign. We are telling you and your clerics that we are with Allah,” the bandits threatened.
Now this is an embarrassment for President Bola Tinubu and his Service Chiefs.An uneducated terrorists leader, Bello Turji and his boys celebrating as they took over armoured personnel carrier (armoured bunker) with lots of ammunitions.Turji is even sending a warning to… pic.twitter.com/PwKvlqgmqy— Abdul-Aziz Na’ibi Abubakar (@jrnaib2) August 31, 2024
Clips in posts on X showed terrorists who worked with Bello Turji, dressed in military uniform, chanting victory slogans around a Nigerian MRAP vehicle in August.
It was this same Turji current minister of defence Matawalle granted amnesty while he was the governor of Zamfara State.
Under his administration as the governor of Zamfara, the state suffered horrific attacks at the hands of armed terrorists often renamed bandits, including Turji.
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Turji rained terror on Zamfara in Isa, Shinkafi and other Local Government Areas of the state. He also amassed wealth through illegal taxes he imposed on local communities he controlled during Matawalle’s tenure as governor.
The two banditry cases FIJ found outstanding in that period were the kidnap of 279 Jangebe schoolgirls in 2021 and the Zurmi massacre in the same year. In the Zurmi attack, the terrorists killed 53 people, most were farmers on their farmlands.
In June, a Facebook video surfaced online where Turji linked the banditry in the North to the scuffles between Hausa and Fulani. He said the Fulani and the Hausa communities lived in peace until a former Zamfara governor established a Sharia law that subjugated the Fulanis.
Turji’s explanations were in consonance with a 2022 YouTube documentary by the BBC.
The Zamfara state government under Matawalle said in 2020 that the best way to deal with armed banditry was through peace and reconciliation with the terrorists. Hence, Matawalle carried out amnesty programmes for bandits in his state, including Turji.
In August 2022, Matawalle’s deputy, Hassan Nasiha, while speaking at a security conference organised by the students union of Medina University, Saudi Arabia, said that Turji was killing unrepentant bandits himself.
Nasiha said Turji had met with bandits in the 14 local government areas of Zamfara.
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“Everyone knows the notorious bandits’ kingpin, Bello Turji who has operated on that axis,” Nasiha said.
“The state government, through the peace committee, entered into a peace deal with the bandits’ leader and he agreed to stop the criminality and to embrace peace.
“Turji is now killing unrepentant bandits who unleashed terror on innocent citizens in Shinkafi, Zurmi and Birnin Magaji local government areas.”
However, in a video that surfaced on July 18, Turji accused Matawalle of backing terrorism. He claimed that the minister empowered bandits when he was governor. He also claimed that the minister’s policy was responsible for the escalating insecurities in Zamfara and other states in the northwest.
In the face of current insecurities caused by bandits in the northeast, the presidency recently directed that Matawalle and other military chiefs move to Sokoto as part of efforts to rid the north of rampant terrorism.
The post FLASHBACK: In 2022, Matawalle’s Govt Said Bello Turji Had Repented appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.