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| - A video showing soldiers on parade has resurfaced online with a claim that it shows the soldiers recently mobilized to bring Bello Turji-led notorious bandits to justice within 48 hours.
Bello Turji is a notorious bandit leader in northern Nigeria, primarily operating in Zamfara, Sokoto, and Niger states.
READ: Drone footage of ‘bandits’ posted by Joe Igbokwe is from Kenya not Nigeria
He has been involved in numerous attacks, kidnappings, and killings, often targeting villages, travellers, and security personnel. Turji’s group is one of the many armed gangs, commonly referred to as bandits, who have wreaked havoc in the region, leading to widespread insecurity.
The video surfaced following the recent directive of the federal government for the service chiefs to relocate to Sokoto to flush out the terrorists.
An X user, @A_Y_Rafindadi, posted the video with a caption thus:
“OPERATION END BELLO TURJI
Special squad deployed to Zamfara, Sokoto Kebbi, and Katsina to bring Bello Turji and there likes within 48 days.
To Allah ya basu saa.”
The video has garnered over 490,000 views, with over 1,900 comments, more than 6,000 likes and over 1,900 reposts as of September 6, 2024.
CLAIM
Video shows soldiers recently mobilised to fight Turji-led bandits in Sokoto State.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING, as the video has been online since June 2024.
Checks show that the video of soldiers on parade has been online before the recent directive by the Nigerian government.
Earlier versions of the video were posted here on June 15, 2024 and here on June 19, 2024. In the 2-minutes video, the soldiers were seen singing and chanting during a parade.
Earlier this September, the Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, directed the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, and other military chiefs to relocate to Sokoto State to intensify efforts to end the menace of banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism in the North-West region.
The government emphasised that the move was part of its strategy to combat the ongoing security challenges in the Northwestern part of Nigeria.
ALSO READ: No! Bandits did not order Nigerian churches to close down
Following this directive, Matawalle, along with the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Christopher Musa, and other top military officials, stormed Sokoto State while declaring their readiness to lead a military onslaught against Turji and other bandits and criminals in the region.
In response to this development, the notorious bandit leader, Bello Turji released a video claiming he and his associates are not afraid of death.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows soldiers recently mobilised to fight Turji-led bandits in Sokoto State is MISLEADING; the video has been online since June 2024.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
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