Christopher Musa, the chief of defence staff (CDS), says Bello Turji, a “notorious bandit kingpin” in Zamfara, has expressed a willingness to surrender.
Speaking on Politics Today, a programme on Channels
Television, on Friday, Musa said recent military operations targeting Turji’s
group have significantly weakened his position.
The CDS said the operations led to the death of Turji’s
second-in-command and several high-ranking lieutenants, leaving the kingpin
with little options.
Musa highlighted the challenges the military faces in
tracking Turji and his group due to their unpredictable movements, adding that
recent successes have pressured the insurgents’ camp.
“North-west is over 200,000 square kilometres. It’s a
massive area with a large forest area. Once they go under the forest, it is
difficult to track them,” he said.
“The terrorists are within the communities; the people know
them. So, sometimes when they see them, before you get the information, it’s
like two hours… the man has moved.
“So, when the information gets to you, before you move, he
has left that area.
“But I can tell you, we have taken out his second in
command, we have taken out most of his lieutenants. In fact, he is forced now
to release most of the people under him.
“I am telling you that recently he is beginning to say that
he doesn’t want anything. He is ready to surrender.
“We want to take everybody out. Anybody who has killed
should go. People like him should not be allowed to stay.”
‘TERRORISTS MAY BE GETTING FUNDS FROM COUNTRIES ENVIOUS OF
NIGERIA’
Musa added that terrorists may be getting funding from
outside the nation’s shores — besides what they make from kidnapping, rustling
of livestock and robbery.
He said some countries envious of Nigeria could be
channelling monies to insurgents in a bid to destablise the country.
“This is the one million dollar question: who are the people
funding them?” the defence chief asked.
“Sometimes, they get funding from kidnappings, armed robbery
and all these things that they do. But again, you cannot rule out… in the
north-east, when we arrested some of them, they were having hard currencies to
change. How did they get these monies?
“And again, look, people don’t understand that a lot of
countries are envious of us as Nigeria. I remember some people said we were not
going to survive beyond 2015. This is 2025 and we’re still surviving.
“So, people should understand that not everybody is happy
with you that your state is still there and that you’re developing.”
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com