I imposed N50mn levy on Zamfara community, terrorist Bello Turji says in video

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Notorious bandit Bello Turji has confirmed that he imposed a N50 million levy on a community in Zamfara State. He also berated Bulama Bukarti, Ali Pantami, Dan Bello, and Murtala Asada in his new propaganda video, purportedly recorded on 10 September.

Mr Bukarti, a human rights lawyer, was the main pointer of the terrorist’s video.

Three days earlier, the lawyer, in a post on his X handle, noted how Mr Turji, who has had repeated peace deals with terrorised communities and the Zamfara State government, imposed a N50 million tax on Moriki, a village in Zurmi Local Government Area of terror-ravaged Zamfara.

“The people of Moriki town of Zamfara State have managed to convince Bello Turji to reduce the ransom he imposed on them from N50 million to N30 million,” Mr Bukarti posted on X, adding that the terror kingpin gave the villagers till Wednesday, 11 September to make the payment.

“This sum is supposedly compensation for the killing of Turji’s cows by the new commandant of the army base stationed inside Moriki,” Mr Bukarti added.

Turji’s verbal attack on Bukarti, Dan Bello

In the 5:42-minute propaganda video, Mr Turji confirmed that he imposed the levy on Moriki. He also mocked Mr Bukarti and Dan Bello, a popular Hausa social media influencer who uses satire to expose government corruption.

In the video, Mr Turji, flaunting a sophisticated rifle, was flanked by his armed foot soldiers — many of them dressed in military camouflage. The foot soldiers wielded heavy weapons including an RPG.

“I heard someone with a bald head… has released some documents saying Bello Turji has imposed a levy on Moriki people,” the terror kingpin said, noting it was true he did impose the levy.

However, he disputed the reason the lawyer gave for his [Mr Turji] action.

“What he said was true and he didn’t lie,” Mr Turji continued. “Bello Turji has spoken to Moriki people but I heard him saying it is because they have killed 50 of our cattle. No! That was not what happened.”

“Listen to what we are telling you,” he continued, referring to Mr Bukarti and Dan Bello.

“Yes, you are right, we imposed a N50 million levy on Moriki, but they have killed our brothers and 11 herds of cattle. So calculate it, it’s 1,707… So call anyone in Moriki to prove me wrong,” Mr Turji said, claiming a herd of camels were also killed.

The terror kingpin further claimed that some of his people were shot to death “in front of Birnin Yero’s Juma’at Mosque.”

He said that there were two other young girls who were wrongly killed by the military operatives in Moriki.

“Listen to me, you Moriki people. I was born here and so were you,” Mr Turji said. “There was never a time when a soldier from Enugu or Port Harcourt would be posted here and kill your brothers, and you would be happy and jubilant, and we would allow you to go free, and the west dogs would continue ranting about it.”

Meanwhile, Mr Bukarti, in another post, said Mr Turji’s attempts to intimidate him will fail.

“Turji attack is an attempt to intimidate me, but it will fail,” said Mr Bukarti. “This is not the first time I have faced such threats — Abubakar Shekau, the ruthless Boko Haram leader, targeted me on several occasions. I did not back down then, and I certainly won’t now. Shekau is gone, and by God’s grace, Turji will soon follow.”

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that about 11 locals from Moriki — five men and six women — were kidnapped by Mr Turji’s gang. Mr Bukarti said the terror kingpin vowed to kill them on 12 September if the N30 million levy wasn’t paid.

Fortunately, the men escaped from his camp leaving the women behind.

What he said about Murtala Asada and Pantami

The terror kingpin also chided Mr Pantami, a minister in the previous administration, and a Sokoto-based cleric, Mr Asada.

Mr Asada had, in several of his sermons, condemned Mr Turji, faulting the government for not clamping down on him.

In the new video, Mr Turji called on the Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa, to give Mr Asada an appointment in the military.

“Our blessed leader, Christopher Musa, we are calling on you with a loud voice, please, give Murtala Asada a position even though it is the commander of vigilantes. Let him join, please. He is desperately looking for positions…,” Mr Turji stated.

The chief of defence staff, in a press briefing in Abuja last Tuesday, told journalists that the military would soon apprehend Mr Turji alive.

Speaking against former minister Panatami, Mr Turji said: “I have a video clip of him saying anyone in the government is a non-believer (Kufaar) and ever since he was given ministerial position… he has become one.”

In 2021, some Nigerians demanded that Mr Pantami resign from former President Muhammadu Bihari’s cabinet over his past extreme Islamist views, although the presidency sided with him.

According to a BBC report, Mr Pantami, in one sermon from the 2000s, said he considered al-Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden a better Muslim than himself, and in another, he said he was happy when infidels were massacred.

In a 2006 speech, Mr Pantami openly expressed his sympathies following the demise of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Additionally, in an audio recording where he discusses the Nigerian military’s conflict with Boko Haram, Mr Pantami’s voice trembles with emotion as he fervently refers to the insurgents as “our Muslim brothers,” asserting that they should not be “killed like pigs.”

The presidency, however, said Mr Pantami’s views on such matters have changed. “In the 2000s, the minister was a man in his twenties; next year he will be 50. Time has passed, and people and their opinions – often rightly – change.”

Mr Turji has carried out mindless attacks on various communities in the North-west, killing, kidnapping and rustling livestock.

Recently, Mr Turji and his men looted an armoured vehicle abandoned by the military operatives who were responding to a distress call from a village in Zurmi LGA, Zamfara State.

The vehicle was stuck in a swampy area and the military operatives tactically retreated, giving the terror group a chance to take over the vehicle.

In December 2021, a lorry heading south was waylaid by Mr Turji’s followers along the Garin Bawa area of Sabon Birni. Passengers in the lorry were set ablaze alive.

In September of that year, Mr Turji’s group invaded the Gonroyo Market in Sokoto State, killing over 60 traders.

The attack was a retaliation for the killing of 11 Fulani men suspected to be bandits.