Thousands of people in northwestern Nigeria have fled their homes, creating a new humanitarian and refugee crisis, after a powerful gang leader named Bello Turji threatened to exterminate entire villages in retaliation for a security operation that killed one of his men.
Bello Turji, believed to be in his early 30s, is one of Nigeria’s most infamous bandit warlords. He is a member of the Fulani tribe, the Muslim herdsmen whose frequent attacks on Christian farming villages led President Donald Trump to call out the Nigerian government for allowing Christian persecution.
Turji is a good example of how fine the line between “bandits” and jihadis can be in Nigeria. He was a member of the Fulani militia before he turned to banditry, and frequently boasts
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