The Defence Headquarters said notorious terror leader Bello Turji is still on the run dismissing claims by Amnesty International that the masterminder of killings and kidnappings in Shinkafi, Sabon Birni, and Isah in Zamfara and Sokoto states has surrounded himself to the military.
Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General. Markus Kangye, who refute the claim at a news conference in Abuja that said the key terrorist remains on the military wanted list, “Bello Turji has not surrendered. We are still pursuing him.”
He said recent reports that suggested Turji had disarmed and freed 32 hostages as part of a peace deal mediated by Islamic clerics in Zamfara is false. “These claims are false,” he said.
On the Amnesty International report that alleges extrajudicial killings by troops in the South-East, Major. General. Kangye described the allegations are baseless.
“The military does not engage in indiscriminate violence,” he said, emphasizing that soldiers are not deployed to harm civilians.
“Anyone with a phone can spread information, but we assure you, no extrajudicial killings are happening in the South-East.”
On the recent protests by retired military personnel, he said the Military Pensions Board (MPB), in collaboration with the Chief of Accounts and Budget at the Defence Headquarters and the Minister of Finance, met with the affected veterans and addressed the concerns.
