Nigeria TV Info 

Terrorist Bello Turji’s Threat: How Families Risk Lives to Enter Niger Republic — Sokoto Residents Reveal Ordeal

Residents of border communities in Sokoto State have raised alarm over the growing danger faced by families attempting to cross into Niger Republic amid threats linked to notorious bandit leader, Bello Turji. According to locals, fear of reprisals, abductions, and attacks has forced many households to take risky, unofficial routes across porous borders in search of safety and livelihoods.

Community leaders said Turji’s activities and allied criminal networks have disrupted farming, trade, and social life, pushing families to flee at night to avoid detection. Some residents reported paying smugglers to guide them through bush paths, exposing women and children to exhaustion, hunger, and possible assault. Traders who depend on cross-border markets also lamented heavy losses, as insecurity has reduced commercial movement.

Security sources acknowledged the challenges of monitoring vast border areas, stressing ongoing joint operations between Nigerian forces and regional partners to degrade bandit networks. Humanitarian groups have called for urgent support for displaced families, improved border surveillance, and the reopening of safe trade corridors to reduce reliance on dangerous routes.

Sokoto residents urged the federal and state governments to intensify security operations, strengthen community policing, and provide relief materials to affected households, warning that prolonged insecurity could worsen humanitarian conditions in the region.