Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru, has ordered troops of Operation Fansar Yamma to produce wanted terrorist kingpin, Bello Turji.
He gave the order 24 hours after President Bola Tinubu rejigged his cabinet, leaving him and 30 others untouched.
Bayo Onanuga, Presidential spokesman, had stated the reason which Tinubu also spared Bello Matawalle, Minister of State for Defence.
Addressing troops at the One Brigade Headquarters in Gusau, Zamfara State, on Thursday, Badaru boosted the morale of the soldiers, saying President Bola Tinubu has been the following their activities in the past few months and has seen remarkable improvement.
“He urged me to thank you and to urge you to do more to end insecurity in these areas of operation and the country. He is ready to provide all you need to end insecurity in the Northwest and Nigeria.”
“I had some reassurances from the commander officer and was pleased, sure that we would reach the goal. Are you ready to finish with them? Are ready to end it? Please get me Turji.”
Badaru’s comment comes three weeks after Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, said the days of Turji were numbered.
According to the CDS, the renewed military onslaught on terrorists in the North West had sent panic to the camp of Turji and his gang.
“You can see from the action that he is taking, you will know that he is in a state of panic. He used to be emboldened to go and talk and talk as if he is the only one in charge. Now he knows he is not in charge. He knows it is a matter of time because Halilu Buzu that was killed was his master.
“So now that he knows his commander is gone, he knows he is next and so all that he is doing now is mere noise-making,” Musa had said during an interview.
The CDS said that the terrorist kingpin had already crossed the line.
He said while the military operations would continue, many of the terrorists would continue to go down.
According to him, insecurity is dragging on for a long time because of poverty, illiteracy and lack of good governance within those general areas.
“So they have a large population of youths not doing anything. The more we take them out, the more people are joining them and then you remember, we have a 1,500 kilometre border with Niger Republic.
“We have another border with the Benin Republic and so a lot of people filter in and out within Nigeria. So efforts are being made to ensure that we secure those borders to deny them the ability to move in,” he said.
