A notorious bandits leader, Bello Turji has said he is ready to make peace with the Federal Government if the terms of the condition are spelled out.
Naija News reports that Turji made the disclosure in a telephone interview with an online Hausa television in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital.
The bandit leader also said he is ready to go to war with the government and the Nigerian military, depending on which one they choose.
Turji asserted that it is the government that will decide which one it wants, whether peace or war, saying that he is not afraid to wage war against the military.
According to the bandit leader, In August 2022, he signed a peace accord with the state government for a ceasefire but was betrayed a month after.
Turji further lamented that he was sabotaged by the federal government which allowed the military operatives to bombard his residence and killed innocent people, saying the government claims to be looking for peace but doesn’t love peace but only pretending.
He said: “I am ready for peace or war depending on which one the government wants. It is the government that will decide which one it wants, whether peace or war.
“In August 2022, there was a peace accord between me and the government for me to cease fire which I obliged for the sake of peace but within a month, precisely on the 18th of September 2022, my house at Fakai village in Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State was attacked by the Nigeria Air Force operatives.
“Twelve people including my relatives died in the Air Force attack at my Fakai residence, even after the peace accord signed by both parties.
“By bombing my residence and killing twelve innocent people, the federal government is provoking me to drop the peace accord which I willingly signed”
He said the security operatives would be killing innocent and vulnerable people, destroying their properties and they would be holding him responsible for the attacks he doesn’t know about.
Turji claimed that since he signed the peace accord, his gang members had never attacked anybody, if not after the military attack on his residence.
He said: “I always feel embarrassed whenever my name is mentioned in one attack or the other even when the attacks were carried out by another bandits’ leader which I don’t even know, they would associate me with such attacks”
“I want to tell the general public that the government they think is protecting them is their number one enemy. If the government want to end insecurity, it would do so but what the military personnel, security chiefs and other individuals are gaining from banditry can never allow them to end insecurity, especially in the north”
He also claimed the federal government was responsible for the incessant banditry activities in the North West and the terrorism activities in the North East,
Turji alleged that security chiefs, military personnel, and some highly placed individuals make huge amounts of money from the inhuman activities.
He claimed that the government is fooling the gullible and naive people, saying that the government was not ready to salvage the situation with regards to ending the ugly menace.