FIJ
On November 24, the Nigerian military helicopter hovered over Sokoto East. A group of army officers armed with revolvers, machine guns and other heavy artillery jumped down from their vehicles, combing the forests of Kusari, a village in the Sabon-Birni area of Sokoto.
Their mission was to bombard Bello Turji, a bandit kingpin terrorising Nigeria’s northwest, and his cohorts. The villagers of Kusari had been severely terrorised by bandits in the previous few weeks. They had had to pay millions as ransoms and levies to their new overlords. So, when they saw military men wielding heavy ammunition, they were worried. They ran helter-skelter, so they would not be victims of collateral damage.
Soon, bandits poured out of the forests with guns and exchanged fire with the soldiers, turning the village into a war scene. An army officer was the first to fall, desperately gasping for his life after a bullet hit him. The military men retreated for a while and came back in full force, aiming at the notorious bandits as they trooped out from the forests.
The battle lasted for several hours, sources told FIJ.
Several locals in Sabon Birni, who asked not to be named for fear of becoming the next targets, corroborated Garba’s narrative. They noted that some of the bandits were shielded by villagers who were afraid that the terrorists might fight back later.
“As soon as the military descended on the bandits, some of them hid in people’s houses,” one of the locals told FIJ. “So, the soldiers did not attack those that were shielded; they only attacked those that were outside the houses.”
The bandits had told the village head to tell his people to calm down and promised to subsequently protect the villagers, said locals in the troubled area.
“Only one villager was killed, but we can’t say whether the bullet came from the military or the bandits,” another local old FIJ.
WHERE ARE THE BODIES OF THESE BANDITS?
Whenever reports emerge about the army’s offensives against the subversive elements terrorising the northwest, curious citizens of the region wonder why the military could not produce evidence of their success on the battlefield. Their argument is that if the bandits could flaunt pictures and videos of how they torture or kill innocent citizens, why can the the army not do the same to substantiate their victory?
THE WITNESSES OF WAR
Nafiu Garba, a fleeing resident of Kusari, was in his home when the battle between the army and the bandits began. He hid in a vantage point within the village, witnessing the gun duel. He told FIJ that the military offensive against the bandits was “massive and brutal”.
But, panic-stricken Garba fled Sokoto for a state in the northcentral after witnessing the cocktail of violence in his village. He was afraid of possible reprisals from the bandits and the bloody effects these could have on innocent citizens.
“I saw corpses of bandits that were being killed during the gunfire between the terrorists and the security agents,” Garba told FIJ. “The bandits shot one of the military personnel but I don’t know whether the person was dead or alive. But we have seen instances of armed bandits being killed and their motorcycles burnt.”
He also said: “When the army finished combing the forest, they took the bodies of the bandits away and their AK-47 rifles.”
