Sueleiman Umaru
For years, the notorious Kachalla Bello Turji, the acclaimed Leader of the Bandits Group and his fighters including his trigger hungry son have been terrorizing the north western states of Zamfara, described as home of the bandits, Sokoto, Kaduna, Katsina, and Niger, home state of former military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, rtd.
Turji, who was said to have engaged the services of spies and marabouts appears to be wreaking havoc in north western and north central state of Niger according to one Zagozama Makama, an analyst based around the Lake Chad Basin, in the north eastern state of Borno, engages the services of spies and marabouts
The notorious bandits group gang Leader and other gang Leaders who were said to have established camps in Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna, Katsina and Niger states used had used it as a base to attack Communities and hold the people hostage.
Take for instance in Zamfara state, alone, the restless Turji and his followers were said to have established camps in Fakai, Zangon Dan Gwandi, Zangon Tsaika, and Zagon Kagara Communities, described as their strongholds.
Given the strategic position of Fakai camp, in Shikanfi, Local Government Area may have encouraged the Niger Republic born bandits group gang Leader operating in Nigeria to have used a school premises in the Community for the bandits’ storage facility for food items and weapons, making it difficult for the pupils and their Teachers to come in.
This may have exposed the notorious bandits group gang Leader and his followers to series of bombardments in the recent time from the air wing of Operation Fansan Yamma and Operation Daji to compliment the efforts of the ground Troops to dislodge them from the school premises for normal classes to resume.
The notorious bandits group gang leader who was said to have been sighted around Zangon Gebe recently, surrounded by fighters, armed to the teeth with sophisticated weapons may have known that his life is in danger that he had cared little about the safety of his trigger hungry son and scores of his fighters.

Detailed by General Christpher Musa, Chief of Defense Staff, CDS, and alongside, Lt.Gen.Olufemi Oluyede, Chief of ARMY Staff, CoAS, and Air Marshall Hassan Abubakar, Ch Chief of Nigerian Air Force NAF,and complemented by personnel from the Nigerian Navy ‘s Special Boat Services, SBS, the Special Forces, Operation Fansan Yamma, operating in Zamfara state and Operation Dji, established to checkmate the activities of the bandits in the entire north western region and Niger state, appears determined ‘’to capture Turji and dismantle his networks.
Aware that playing into the hands of the Special Forces may signal the end of banditry operations in the north western region, may have given him the audacity to instruct members of his gang ‘’to ambush and waste’’ Operation Fansan Yamma Troops along Isah axis in Sokoto state.
He was said to have also resorted to plan B, which has to do with ‘’the use of guerrilla tactics ‘’ by his gang members his gang to destabilize the ongoing military operations against him across the north western states of Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna, Katsina and the north central state of Niger. He got it wrong.
The Special Forces, which were said to have eliminated many of the bandits group fighters within Turji’s camp in Fakai and other strongholds in Zamfara state and rescued of some Kidnapped victims, whose ransom have been successfully Negotiated to facilitate their release but still been delayed until the Operation Fansan Yamma sudden attack that was said to have spoil all the arrangements to collect ransom that runs into millions of naira from the victims’ families.
Turji, may have lost his coordinating ability at the Fakai battle ground as attempts to get reinforcement from gang Leaders failed forcing him to flee, leaving his son and scores of his fighters behind to be killed by the advancing Operation Fansan Yamma Troops.
There are indications that he may have fled to one of his notorious hideouts across Shinkafi, Kagara, Fakai, Moriki, Maiwa, or Chindo axis in the north western state of Zamfara state to evade being captured by the advancing Operation Fansan Yamma Troops.
Air Marshall Abubakar, NAF, Chief, and the air wing of Operation Yamma, personnel may have targeted the strongholds of Turji, aimed at dismantling it but the death of his son and other members of his gang l and the destruction of the school in Fakai Community, used as logistics base, a resident had said have begun to hunt him that his life appears to be in shambles.

Recall that the notorious Turji , had boasted late 2024, of going to sustain the terrorist war in Zamfara and Sokoto states but had abandoned his hideout in the notorious Fakai rock in the Shinkafi LGA, with some his close Associates as Operation Fansan Yamma Troops presses forward to capture him, to forestall his escape to the poverty stricken Niger, Mali or Burkina to mobilize Mercenaries to Launch fresh attacks .
But Turji , the source had declared will find it difficult to beat the military personnel who are on the alert to it as Operation Fansan Troops were said to have strategically blocked the critical escape routes used by Turji and his fighters near Bandarawa, Chida and Fakai, in the past, thustightening the noose around him and his runaway Commanders and other foot soldiers.
Even Ado Alieru, another most wanted bandits group gang Leader , who was Turbaned Sarkin Fulani of Yandoto Emirate by the Emir of Yandoto Daji Emirate, during the the Administration of Bello Matwalle, as governor of Zamfara state and now minister of state, Defense, fears that his self-proclaimed empire will crumble sooner than expected as Operation Fansan Yamma and Operation Daji, ramp up their offensive against Turji and other bandits group gang Leaders and who could no longer take the heat was said to have gone into hiding to escape arrest.
Matawalle, the the immediate past governor of Zamfara state may have bowed to pressure to Turban the bandits group gang Leader aimed at finding lasting peace in Tsafe and Yandoton Daji Emirates, that were said to have been regularly attacked by Aleru -led gangs but peace never returned as the bandits gag were said to have continued to have their way : attack, kill and go, questioning the reason why the then government of Alieru, agreed for the bandits group gang Leader to be turbaned.

A retired Nigeria Customs service, NCS, officer, from Zamfara, state , who spoke to the online Magazine, on condition of anonymity disclosed that since Operation Fansan Yamma stepped up their operations in the flashpoint north western states which he described as part of the deliberate and sustained campaign ‘’to flush out the bandits group gang fighters from the region and destroy their networks’’, the war is as good as having been won by the Nigerian military and a big blow to Turji.
Senator Abdullahi Gobir, who is optimistic that the ongoing efforts to combat banditry and Terrorism will yield results, in the north western region, noting that if past Administrations had put in such efforts as President Tinubu, banditry and Terrorism would have been eradicated in the country long ago. Hear him: Tinubu and his security Team, are taking the issue of combating banditry and Terrorism seriously and is ready to take bold steps to address it.
With the successes that was said to have been achieved by the air wing of Operation Fansan Yamma and Operation Daji , Special Forces ‘’ to clip the wings of of Turji and other gang Leaders in Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi,Kaduna and Katsina states, in the recent time, according to analysts marks ‘’the beginning of a decisive step in achieving lasting peace in in the entire region and the north central state of Niger.
Given that there is not much difference between the Bandits Group, Lakurawa Group, BokoHaram and ISWAP, which exists for ‘’t musa, Lt. Gen. Oluyode and Air Mrshall Abubakar,he sake of war, kidnapping and cattle rustling’’ may have informed why the Trio, of Gen Musa, Lt Gen. Oluyede and Air Marshall Abubakar, had vowed that the Terrorists groups must ‘’be destroyed for peace to be restored in the two regions., in the northern part of the Federation , comprising of 13 states.
The restless Turji, analysts, believes had continued to wage the terrorists war in states in north western geopolitical region, ostensibly to protect the interest of his sponsors engaged in illegal mining of gold and other solid minerals in Tsafe and Shinkafi, Local Areas of Zamfara, particular.
Worried that he may be killed with the battle being fought both air and land, may have informed why he had resorted to guerrilla tactics to destabilize the ongoing military operations in the flash point northern states.
He was said to have also engaged the services of network of prayer warriors from his home country, Niger Republic and Maiduguri, Capital of Borno state, described as home of BokoHaram and ISWAP, Insurgents , in an attempt to evade being captured by Operation Fansan Yamma and Operation Daji Troops, who are acting the script of the CDS.

In a related development, Muhammed Abubakar, minister of Defence under the present President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Administration, had said that the Nigeria military will need 50 Armoured Personnel Carriers , APC, in the 2015, budget to flush out the Bandits and Terrorists Organizations from Nigeria.
Appearing before the House Committee on Defence in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, recently, the minister, who could not hide his feelings had said that the supply of the equipment as requested will help the military in the fifght against banditry in the north western region and insurgency in the north eastern states of Borno and Yobe.
He had given his words that if the 50 APCs, could be be provided the military by the Nigerian Government, ‘’ the fight against banditry and Insurgency in Nigeria would be over in two months’’ , noting that the APC, have the capacity to enter into difficult terrains to flush out the criminal elements with little or no resistance.
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