Key Points
- Security expert Dr. Yahuza Getso said the Federal Government’s declarations on arresting Bello Turji amount to political posturing, not real intent.
- Getso pointed out that the government traces and arrests social media critics within hours but has failed to apply the same urgency to a known bandit kingpin.
- Turji remains at large despite an 11-count terrorism charge filed against him in a Federal High Court in Abuja, with trial proceedings ongoing.
The words have been said before. Arrest him. Bring him to justice. Hold him accountable. But according to security expert Dr. Yahuza Getso, that is all they are: words.
Speaking on Trust TV on March 31, Getso said the Federal Government has no genuine intention of apprehending Bello Turji, one of Nigeria’s most wanted bandit leaders.
“I don’t believe that Nigeria is genuinely interested in any way to arrest Bello Turji,” he said.
“The declaration to apprehend him is a political statement that could be made by even a local government councillor or chairman.”
It is a blunt assessment. And one that lands at a moment when questions about state capacity and political will in Nigeria’s fight against banditry are louder than ever.
The social media test
Getso’s sharpest point was also his simplest. When individuals post things on social media that the government finds inconvenient, he said, those people are traced and arrested within hours. The machinery works. It just has not been turned toward Turji.
Turji, born in 1994 in Shinkafi local government of Zamfara State, has operated for years across Zamfara, Sokoto and Niger states, leading a bandit network accused of massacres, kidnappings and large-scale violence across Northwestern Nigeria.
Getso also criticized the broader pattern of spending. Nigeria has poured trillions of naira into fighting insurgency over the past 11 years, he said, yet financiers and key actors continue to operate with relative impunity. The money flows. The results do not.
In court, but still at large
The Federal Government filed an 11-count terrorism charge against eight defendants, including Turji, in December 2024. Turji remains at large and is listed among three defendants who have never appeared in court.
A Federal High Court in Abuja granted leave in February 2026 for the prosecution of five suspects linked to Turji to proceed in their absence, after they repeatedly failed to appear for trial. The case has been adjourned until April 13, 2026.
The government’s legal filings describe a sophisticated supply chain: weapons sourced from Niger Republic and Libya, narcotics, food supplies and military uniforms all funneled to Turji’s network by associates now standing trial.
Not hidden, Getso says
Getso was direct on this point too. Turji is not hiding in some unreachable forest or unknown location. “Bello Turji is not in any hidden place, and it is not difficult to apprehend him,” he said, urging authorities to match their rhetoric with action.
A prominent cleric, Primate Elijah Ayodele of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, raised similar concerns in January 2026, alleging that politicians are shielding Turji from arrest and that those connections are what keep him from being apprehended by the military.
Whether or not that allegation holds up to scrutiny, the broader question Getso is raising is harder to dismiss: if the state can find a Twitter user in hours, why has it not found Bello Turji in years?
