Two terrorist leaders in Nigeria’s Sokoto State are teaming up to fight security forces in following a military offensive in the area. What does this unholy coalition mean for ordinary villagers?

Bello Turji, a Nigerian terror gang leader, is forming an army of criminals to quell operations by security forces in Sokoto state, North West Nigeria.

On Tuesday, Aug. 6, Turji and Halilu Sububu, another criminal leader in the state, they have joined forces to engage the security agents in a fire exchange that lasted hours. Locals who witnessed the face-off in the Gidan Dikko and Dustin Gwabro villages of Isa told HumAngle that the terrorist alliance is taking a toll on many civilians.

Hundreds of motorbikes had conveyed different terrorist groups to Turba, a village in the area, where they took positions to target the security forces. Residents told HumAngle that, for the first time, they saw terrorists carrying and deploying various forms of ammunition, including the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG).

“They also mounted firearms to fight soldiers and the local vigilantes who came to protect us in Sabon-Birni,” Garba Makeri, a local blacksmith in the area, told HumAngle. The armed groups attempted to attack members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) in the village but failed.

Based in about 17 terrorist camps in the eastern parts of Sokoto across Isa, Sabon-Birni, and Raba local government areas, the terrorists are enraged about the recent military offensives against them, blaming the local vigilantes for aiding surveillance operations which have caused them death and destruction. Other terrorist groups involved in the violent coalition include the Dan-Dari Buyar-led gang and the Ali Dan-Oga terror syndicate.

“We would like to use this medium to report to the Nigerian security agencies that are present in the Isa and Sabon-Birni LGAs that Ruggar Maiyara, a forest community that links the two areas, is now a place where the armed terrorists spend nights. They always desert their camps for the location after 8 p.m. and return to their den the following morning at 5 a.m. every day. They do this as tactics to dodge military operations and Community Protection Guards (CPG) attacks,” Basharu Guyawa, a social activist and resident of Isa, told HumAngle. Basharu works for the Movement for Social Justice, a civil society organisation based in Sokoto state, gathering local intelligence on terrorist operations in the northwestern region.

The Ruggar Maiyara forest is an ungoverned space in the Niger Republic, neighbouring the Isa and Sabon-Birnin Nigerian towns, according to local sources contacted by HumAngle, among whom were local security guards, residents, and a social activist. The sources added that while the forest is hard to reach, the terrorists find solace in the place “because there is limited civilian presence in its nearby villages”.

Now, over 31 villages have been deserted for safety, with villagers taking refuge in Isa town, after which the terrorists turned their homes into hiding places. Several sources told HumAngle that Turji, Halilu, and others often return to the forest after a show of force against security agents guarding the volatile communities in Isa.

Despite their ploys, however, dozens of terrorists were reportedly killed in the eastern parts of Sokoto, including terror groups from the Niger Republic, according to residents. Many others were dislodged from their camps in the Sabon-Birni area of the state. A local security guard who participated in a clash between the coalition of terror groups and the CJTF told HumAngle that over 50 terrorists were killed in the Turba forest area, noting that he took stock of the criminal casualties during the face-off. A combination of Halilu and Turji’s fighters were seen taking to their heels and heading to the forest to take cover after suffering a major blow from the military.

The fighting lasted for over three days, with the military officers running out of bullets and suffering minor injuries from the attacks. However, the alliance is taking a toll on civilians, according to interviews with residents and people with knowledge of the inner workings of the armed groups.

“Nearly all the remote villages in the eastern parts of Sokoto are displaced; a significant number of others are ungoverned spaces under the merciless rule of armed terrorists,” said Rabiu Bala, a resident who had been abducted three times. “We have told both the Sokoto and the federal governments about the humiliation and inhumane treatments we suffer from the terrorists.”

The Isa townspeople told HumAngle they had suffered for too long without help. They added that authorities failed to stop “these criminal gangs from invading our homes to rape, kill aimlessly, rustle our cattle herds, and abduct our innocent people for ransom”.

“We have no military barracks in all the local government areas in eastern Sokoto. But there are over 16 terrorist groups and more are increasingly sprouting up in the Sububu forest,” said Basharu Isa, a resident of the town.

Recently, Basharu’s mother was critically ill and when they were finally able to raise money to take her to the hospital, they were waylaid by terrorists operating in the area.

“The armed terrorists intercepted our vehicle and abducted my mother and three of our siblings,” he narrated. “I only escaped when two commercial trucks arrived at the scene and the gang moved to attack them.”

Residents said several humanitarian organisations and development partners had left their communities because of the attacks. “They tagged our eastern region a red zone,” Basharu lamented.

Turji is notorious for committing violent crimes in the region. He has orchestrated some of the most dreaded bloodbaths in the state and kidnapped hundreds of people for ransom. Flocking around with his gang members, Turji began his terrorist activities in the Shinkafi area of Zamfara but later moved to Sabon Birni in 2021.

After acquiring heavy munitions from his ransom proceeds, he took over the governance and economy of Sabon-Birni. He sacked the village heads of the town and appointed his men as replacements. He imposed illegal taxes, amassing hundreds of millions to purchase more weapons. He gained more notoriety after he wrote an open letter to former president Muhammadu Buhari in January 2022, asking for a peace deal.

Halilu is another ringleader who has strong ties with French-speaking jihadists from the Niger Republic (where he was raised) and Burkina Faso. He also sustains his operations through large-scale illegal mining and kidnapping for ransom.

A few years ago, he took over most of the mining sites in the Sumke forest in the Anka area of Zamfara unchallenged, demonstrating his influence among other criminal groups in the state, according to a Premium Times report. Now, Halilu and Turji are colluding with smaller terror groups to fight the military in the region, sparking fear and unrest among residents.

Muhammad Danjuma, a security expert, says while the coalition is scary, it should motivate Nigeria’s security agencies to also work together to dislodge the non-state actors. “If the terrorists can come together, why can’t security agents collaborate to fight back?”

Many communities have recently been under heavy terror attacks in Sokoto, with hundreds of villagers leaving the volatile areas for safer parts of the state — especially as state forces are struggling to quell these attacks.

HumAngle recently reported how terrorists from the Niger Republic and other neighbouring countries were finding their way into Nigeria to terrorise the townspeople in Sokoto’s eastern region. In the Tureta area, the Nigerian army withdrew its soldiers, leaving the volatile axis in danger and sparking outrage from villagers concerned about their safety.

“Halilu Sububu trained Bello Turji and other terrorists in northern Zamfara and eastern Sokoto; they only separated for some reasons known to them,” revealed a researcher familiar with terrorist operations in the region.

The researcher, who asked not to be named because he’s not allowed to speak to journalists, added that Halilu has more arms than all the terrorists in the northwestern region and is known as one of the wealthiest violent criminals in the area.

“The teaming up of these terrorists is truly going to be dangerous for the people.”