The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor, just like the leadership of the Concerned Northern Forum (CNF), has faulted the call by Gov. Bello Matawalle of Zamfara state on people of the state to bear arms to defend themselves against bandits.
Recall that the Zamfara State government had on Sunday directed the Commissioner of Police in the state to issue licences to residents willing and fit to bear arms, to protect themselves against the armed bandits.
Irabor said the call was not right, as the armed forces and other security agencies were there to handle the challenges.
The CDS spoke to newsmen on the matter at the opening of the Joint Exercise for the National Defence College and War Colleges of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, code named “Exercise Grand Nationale,” in Abuja.
Irabor said he was yet to understand the basis for asking the citizens of Zamfara to bear arms.
He, however, said it was the responsibility of the Attorney General of the Federation to look at the constitution and the laws to see whether the governor had such powers.
“I believe that, in my view, it is not the right way to go.
“Of course, there are actions that members of the security agencies and the armed forces, in particular, the police and other security agencies, are doing to address insecurity in Zamfara and environs.
“Beyond that, of course, there are other legal issues, other issues of governance, issues that the government could have addressed using the instrumentality of the law that are available for him to bring greater peace and security.
“But like I said, I do not intend to say much about it, but I believe that the Federal Government, using the Attorney General, will look at the details of that press release and give further instruction.
“If what I read is true, I do not also think that the governor has the power to instruct the commissioner of police to issue licenses, because the commissioner of police does not have the powers to issue licenses.”
Irabor said the armed forces was only an instrument of policy implementation, adding that it did not take instructions from state governments.
He said the constitution gave rights and powers only to the Commander-in-Chief for the use of the armed forces.
“I believe that what we are doing in Zamfara and of course, across the states of the federation, is in deference to the provisions of the constitution.
“So, we are there because we are there to give support to the civil authority, in this case, the police.
“We do not need to restate what the issues are that have led to the deployment of military across the country but then, like I said, we are doing the very best to ensure that peace returns to every part of the country,” he said.
In a statement on Tuesday in Kaduna, spokesperson of the Concerned Northern Forum (CNF), Mr Abdulsalam Kazeem:”the forum sympathises with the Government and people of Zamfara over the current spate of insecurity and the untold hardship the insecurity caused them despite their loyalty to constituted authorities.
”The forum is not against self denfence but against bearing arm. We are all witness to the inabilities of developed countries with accurate data at all levels with such policies and their inabilities to stop the consequences of gun violence.”
He said under the Fire Arm Act, private citizens are only licenced to acquire Pump Actions and short guns.
”How can a farmer in Zamfara defend himself against a terrorists with GPMG, Anti- Aircraft and AK 47?, who will train the farmers after acquiring such Arms?.
“What is the capacity of our training ranges nation wide and who will be responsible for the training?, at what point will Zamfara state Government retrieve back all the said guns licenced to them? These are too many questions begging for answers,” Kazeem said.
He further said that states do not have rights to direct commissioners of Police to give interested citizens gun licence.
”The police being a Federal agent are not answerable to Governors under the provisions of Section 214 of the 1999 Constitution,” he said.
He lauded the decisive actions of the Zamfara Government on the closure of some markets, ban and sale of petroleum products in jerrycans and total ban of motor cycles.
He appealed to the Federal Government to deploy more security personnel to Zamfara state, to empower local vigilant group to aid intelligence gathering.
▪︎ Reports by NAN
