Notorious Bandit, Turji Attacks Buhari's Minister, Pantami, Islamic Cleric

Wanted notorious bandit leader, Bello Turji, has launched a verbal attack on the immediate-past Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, and Sokoto-based cleric, Murtala Asada, in a recent video.

According to Premium Times, the video reveals Turji’s criticism of Asada, who has repeatedly condemned the bandit and accused the government of failing to take decisive action against him.

Asada’s sermons have been vocal in urging a crackdown on Turji’s activities.

In a provocative move, Turji challenged the Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa, to offer Asada a military appointment.

This call for an appointment comes amid ongoing tensions between Turji and various figures critical of his actions.

“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…,” Turji stated.

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

Speaking against former minister Panatami, 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 Pantami resign from former President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet over his past extreme Islamist views, although the presidency sided with him.

According to a BBC report, 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, 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, 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 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,” the statement in his defence read.

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

Recently, 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 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.