- Safiu Kehinde
The Nigerian Army’s Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has debunked claims that bandit leader Bello Turji has surrendered to the military.
This was made known by the Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. Markus Kangye, during a briefing on the activities of the Armed Forces in Abuja on Thursday.
Markus maintained that the bandit leader operating mainly in Zamfara and Sokoto states still remains wanted.
“Simple answer to the question about terrorist leader, Bello Turji; Turji has not surrendered, we are still on the lookout for him,” he said.
This is coming weeks after a cleric claimed that the bandit leader had surrendered his arms and released 32 kidnap victims following a peace initiative brokered by Islamic clerics in Zamfara State.
Counpled with the dismissal of the claim, Kangye also dismissed alleged extrajudicial killings by troops in the South-East, describing them as unfounded.
The DHQ spokesperson, in reaction to the allegation made by Amnesty International, maintained that the military does not engage in indiscriminate violence.
“What do you mean by extrajudicial killing? Is it that soldiers carry their weapons, go to the street and start shooting people? You know what Amnesty International are doing. You know what they used to publish.
“Like I always tell you, everybody with a phone in his hand is a potential source of information to the whole world.
“But I can tell you that the military is not engaged in any extrajudicial killing in the South East,” he said.