Notorious Bandit Leader, Bello Turji Has Been Arrested
There has been a claim circulating on microblogging platform, X, that the notorious bandit leader who has been terrorising states in the north western part of Nigeria, Bello Turji, has been arrested.
The claim, which has an image of Bello Turji clad with a desert camouflage, his gun and bullets hung around him was posted on January 28, 2025 by a verified handle, @De’Otunba GCFRN 1 with the caption: “Notorious Bello Turji has been arrested by *The Galant forces of @HQNigerianArmy Thank you President Tinubu 👏”
This post has about 117,000 views, over 300 comments, 240 retweets and quotes, over 1,100 likes and 27 bookmarks when this report was written. In the comment section Mosty said “He doesn’t deserve to be fed prison food while some good people are sleeping hungry. Jst take him out”, while Tunde Akerele wrote: “Wow, what a great news. Well done PBAT, well done NSA Nuhu Ribadu.”
The claim was also found here and last week, it was reported that the Nigerian Army had killed Turji’s son during a troop operation. The security significance of this claim and its spread just after the confirmed death of the bandit’s son informed the need to fact-check the claim.
VERIFICATION
Using Google reverse image search to verify the image, it was discovered that the image has been in circulation for more than two years as it can be seen here and here.
A keywords search of details relating to Bello Turji in the news further confirmed that he has not been arrested.
The Vanguard newspaper quoted the Nigerian Defence Headquarters saying, “following some social media reports alleging that wanted terrorist leader, Bello Turji has been arrested by troops of Operation Fasan Yamma in the North West, the Defence headquarters has dismissed the trending report as fake news, urging the public to disregard it.”
“Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba said, “All news regarding the arrest of Bello Turji by troops should be treated as fake news, please,” The Vanguard reported.
It could be recalled that the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, disclosed that Turji had expressed readiness to surrender. However, Musa emphasized that Turji would not be spared for his involvement in killing innocent people. He stated this during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ on Friday, January 25, 2025 where he discussed ongoing military efforts against terrorists in Northern Nigeria.
The CDS explained that the military had neutralised key figures within Turji’s network, leaving him increasingly isolated. Adding that “I can tell you that, we have taken out his second in command, we have taken out most of his lieutenants 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 people should go”.
According to the Daily Post, Counter-insurgency analyst Zagazola Makama has also dismissed the claims as baseless and misleading, clarifying that Turji remains at large. “Bello Turji remains at large, and from the last check, security forces are intensifying efforts to locate and apprehend him”, Makama said.
CONCLUSION
The claim about the arrest of the notorious bandit leader, Bello Turji is FALSE as the Defence headquarters has dismissed the trending report as fake news, urging the public to disregard it because Turji has neither been arrested nor has he surrendered.
