by Mohammed Bello Doka
The contradiction could not be more damning. A man celebrated as dead by ruling-party propaganda has returned to the bush to issue threats that emptied villages. Bello Turji, declared “neutralised” in the wake of an attack ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump, resurfaced to terrorise communities—proof not of victory, but of a governance model where optics outrank outcomes.
This is the anatomy of failure under Bola Ahmed Tinubu: a state that prioritises the performance of success over the substance of security; a communications machine that kills enemies online while civilians flee in reality.
The government said it supplied credible intelligence to justify the U.S. attack ordered by President Donald Trump. Yet no major bandit or terrorist leader was named as a casualty—not before, not after, not weeks later. No confirmation briefings. No intelligence follow-through. Just influencer triumphalism, circulated by networks aligned with the ruling All Progressives Congress, insisting that Turji and “others” had been eliminated.
But credible intelligence produces credible results. Where were they?
Nigeria’s terror geography is not a mystery. The Sambisa Forest remains a byword for entrenched militancy. The forests and bush corridors of Zamfara State, Katsina State, Niger State, and Kebbi State are well-documented havens for bandit commanders and logistics. These are the places Nigerians associate with high-value targets.
They were ignored.
Instead, a rice field in far-off Sokoto was struck by the U.S. attack ordered by President Donald Trump. To date, not a single named bandit leader has been announced dead. The celebrated outcome exists only on timelines.
So the unavoidable questions demand answers.
If Abuja truly provided actionable intelligence, why were the known hotspots bypassed? If the intelligence was sound, why did it not yield a single verifiable high-value casualty? And if the intelligence was not sound, why was the country marched into a spectacle dressed up as success?
There is a darker question still. Did Nigeria mislead Donald Trump—or did Washington choose symbolism over substance? Was Sokoto selected not because it housed priority targets, but because it signalled something else: a performative strike that could be sold as toughness, a tableau that reads as “fighting Islam” to please a Judeo-Christian political base at home and in Israel, regardless of operational logic on the ground?
If that sounds incendiary, consider the alternative explanation—and how thin it is. In a country saturated with intelligence on where terror leaders actually hide, the only strike that could be publicly showcased hit farmland, while the architects of mass violence remained untouched. If the aim was deterrence, it failed. If the aim was decapitation, it missed. If the aim was reassurance, it deceived.
What followed exposes the cost of propaganda. Communities believed the online victory lap. Vigilance dropped. Then the “dead” man reappeared. Threats were delivered. Villages emptied. Displacement followed. The human price of a lie is always paid by those farthest from the microphones.
This is not an isolated misstep; it is a pattern. Announce success first. Verify later—if at all. Let influencers launder ambiguity into certainty. Enjoy the applause. When reality intrudes, move on without correction. Governance by narrative management.
International partners should take note. Security cooperation premised on unverifiable claims corrodes trust. Domestic audiences already know the truth by experience: when the state confuses publicity for progress, insecurity deepens.
The question now is not whether Bello Turji was killed—he clearly was not. The question is whether Nigeria’s leadership will stop killing the truth to save a headline.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via [email protected]
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Opinion