SUMMARY
Organized violence by armed bandit groups emerged in northwestern Nigeria during the 2010s. Over time, these groups grew in size and rapidly expanded across the region, leading to a dramatic increase in violence. Banditry is often referred to as a multidimensional phenomenon, rooted in long-standing farmers-herders conflicts, interethnic tensions, and disputes over land use and ownership. These tensions have been exacerbated by weak governance, marginalization, poverty, and shifting climate patterns. Often described as initially organized along ethnic lines and communal ties, bandit groups have over time become increasingly militarized and formally organized groups; from engaging in cattle rustling to executing large-scale village raids and kidnappings. The groups’ incentives have been phrased by analysts as primarily financial since they frequently engaged in kidnappings for ransom, imposed levies on communities, and illegal taxation on farmers and miners. By the 2020s, following years of escalating violence, banditry had evolved to become one of Nigeria’s most pressing security threats.
Moreover, bandit groups are particularly difficult to map as there are hundreds of them, frequently shifting in size and leadership due to movement and infighting. Some have crossed state borders into another state, while new groups emerge elsewhere, replicating the same bandit methods in new places. These groups frequently operate from the vast forests of northwestern Nigeria, which, to some extent, enables them to evade detection and avoid Nigerian military operations. Additionally, bandit groups tend to cooperate and form alliances among each other while also frequently clashing over territorial control, cattle-rustling, long-standing feuds, or personal vengeance.
The bandit group Forces of Bello Turji, named after its leader, operates primarily in Sokoto and Zamfara states. The group escalated its one-sided attacks against civilians during 2025 following an intense airstrike campaign by the Nigerian military targeting the group early that year. Bello Turji and his fighters conducted several deadly attacks against rural villages, killing and abducting scores of people. The kidnapped victims were sometimes killed even though families had paid ransom for their release. Particularly hard-hit were Isa and Sabon Birni Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Sokoto state.
On 2 April in 2025, 11 farmers were killed in Lugu town, Isa LGA, when members of Forces of Bello Turji passed through the village on their way to Sallah celebrations. Following month, also in Isa LGA, the group targeted villages and killed at least 12 people, forcing other residents to leave. The bandits accused residents of providing the Nigerian military with information about the group’s location, and the aim was thus reportedly to clear the area of its population. The threat of attacks by Turji and his fighters led to thousands of people displaced.
Forces of Bello Turji first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2025, when the one-sided violence resulted in more than 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached on 22 April that year when the group attacked and killed 7 civilians in Zurmi LGA of Zamfara state in Nigeria.
