On December 25, notorious terrorist leader Bello Turji threatened to kick off 2025 with killings and kidnappings in the Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State and other neighbouring communities.

Six days later, bandits kidnapped some passengers and burnt their vehicle in Shinkafi.

Daily Trust reported that the vehicle was conveying the travellers from Gusau to Shinkafi on Tuesday morning when the bandits ambushed it.

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“The bandits abducted all the passengers on board the vehicle before they set the car ablaze. We are suspecting that the 10 people, including the driver, were abducted,” a source said.

“This is a strange method of operation in this area. Before this incident, bandits have never set a car ablaze after abducting its passengers. Of course, they do kidnap people along the road, but they have never burnt vehicles after an operation.”

Residents revealed that many travellers had to suspend their journey to Shinkafi out of fear.

Although it was uncertain at press time if Turju orchestrated the attack, it occurred just as he had threatened in the given place and period.

READ ALSO: Bello Turji Threatens to Begin 2025 With Zamfara Community Killings

In the video recorded on Christmas Day, Turji told Zamfara communities to brace up for killings and kidnapping for ransom in 2025 if the Nigerian authorities failed to release some captured terrorists believed to be related to him.

“I will kick off 2025 with the killing of residents of Shinkafi. Afterwards, we will demand ransom and they will not have peace of mind,” the most wanted terror chief in the northwest region had said.

“We will disrupt the current calm and restore tension. To avoid these, they must release our people who have been detained.”

Like many other states in the northern region, Zamfara is plagued by insecurity, cases of kidnapping, killings and attacks often attributed to bandits.

Some of these incidents documented by FIJ can be found here, here, here, here and here.

READ ALSO: Banditry Cannot End Soon, Says Zamfara Governor

In 2022, Bello Matawalle, the immediate past Governor of Zamfara, expressed doubts over the possibility of banditry ending anytime soon.

He explained that some individuals were exploiting politics to collaborate with terrorists.

According to Matawalle, these individuals were creating the impression that the federal and state governments were not serious about addressing insecurity.
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