Notorious banditry kingpin, Bello Turji, says insecurity in the country is politicised.

Turji disclosed this in an exclusive interview with Trust TV as part of its documentary “Nigeria’s Banditry: Inside Story” aired on the station on Saturday.

Banditry in the North West has claimed thousands of lives, displaced millions of people and property worth billions of naira destroyed.

Turji said, “There is fake news in the media that we are being defeated. I consider the loss of lives while the people are being lied to that we are being defeated. I pity the lives being wasted, both the Fulani and Hausa; so I thought we should come together and live in peace and that we shouldn’t use the insecurity situation for politics.

“There is politics in it, that is why people are being killed. If people are to be secure, there shouldn’t be discrimination in protecting the lives of the Nigerian people. Unfortunately, the security situation is politicised, that is why we say there is politics in was it.”

He alleged that the authorities had not taken measures to stop the killings, adding that there was no fairness in handling the crisis.

He said, “Of course, it is not possible for one side to always be victorious; that it is only one side that kills without its own being killed. What is happening in Nigeria is not a secret; it’s nothing new. We have told the government and all the relevant authorities but nothing is done about it. That is why we suspect that the situation is politicised.

“What we want is to remove politicians from the issue of security. There should be fairness in protecting the lives of innocent people who are being killed, and to ban the Yan sakai. When they are banned, leaders should then step in to end banditry and let the security agents take control of the situation under the laws of the country.” (Text, except for amended headline: Daily Trust)

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