Bello
IN the 80s, as a young man, while his mates latched onto football and other extracurricular activities, he chose scouting. He later became a patrol leader and eventually a troop leader.
Years later, after he has cut his teeth in active journalism that saw him serving in many parts of the country, he accidentally veered into a familiar terrain for which his formative years as a a scout has prepared him.
Sought out by Mr Augustine Ogannah, publisher of The Will online platform, he began working incognito for the late National Security Adviser, Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi, providing snippets on the activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria.
After Mr Azazi’s removal, his services rolled over to different security chiefs, earning him eight years of ‘national’ outings, particularly, in Boko Haram Counter-Insurgency (COIN) consultancies.
He was engaged for two years as a National security/North- East COIN expert and consultant for the Office of the Defense and Military Attaché, United States embassy, Abuja.
Previously, Mr Bello was a COIN Advisory Consultant for both the UK-based charity- Inter/Mediate and the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to Minister of Interior/ National Coordinator of the USG-assisted Security Governance Initiative (SGI), Hon. Aliyu Ibrahim Genius.; and COIN Specialist to a former Chief of Defense Intelligence, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Abuja.
He has also served as the Secretary, Federal Government of Nigeria Counter-Insurgency (COIN) Working Group constituted by the Director-General of the Department of State Security (DSS), producing a 50-page document titled: ‘The Bayajidda Project Report- A Preliminary Report of the Task Force on Bringing an End to the Boko Haram Insurgency.’ He has written and presented a paper on the ideology of the group at the International Conference on Insurgency and the Phenomenon of Boko Haram.
He has also been a COIN Advisory Consultant to the the Inspector General of Police.
Mr Bello, who was an editor and journalist of 20-years stand, was, for half a decade, the Niger Delta region Correspondent of the Hausa Service of the Voice of America (VOA). Currently he is the Special Adviser to Sokoto State Governor on Media and Publicity.
He resides in Sokoto, Nigeria.
