Bello Turji Demands Payment to Permit Farming in North-West

Farming communities in Zamfara and Niger States are again facing threats as bandit leader Bello Turji has reportedly demanded N50 million from residents before they can begin the farming season.

The demand was disclosed by security analyst Bakatsine on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). According to him, Turji is asking for the payment from residents stretching from Tsalaken Gulbi in Fakai village, Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara, to Qaya, a community near the Niger border.

“Bandit leader Bello Turji is reportedly demanding 50 million from residents… just to let them farm this season,” Bakatsine wrote.

Turji has a history of using threats and violence to control rural communities. He has led attacks, kidnappings, and extortion operations across Zamfara, Sokoto, and Katsina States.

Banditry in Nigeria has escalated from cattle rustling and local disputes into a wider crisis involving raids, abductions, and extortion across northern states—including Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, and Niger. Thousands have been displaced, and many communities live under threat.

Farmers in the affected areas are being forced to pay to access their own lands. Those unable to pay risk violence or being shut out of their farms. This has deepened food insecurity and poverty.

A 2024 report by SBM Intelligence titled “Levies or Lives – The Dilemma Of Farmers In Northern Nigeria,” said farmers in the North-West paid at least N139.5 million in protection fees to bandits between 2020 and 2023. The total amount demanded was N224.9 million.

“These demands are not just financial—they’re breaking the back of rural agriculture,” the report noted. “In the past four years, rural communities have become an income source for militant groups, worsening food insecurity and increasing hardship for millions.”

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