Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has called on the Federal Government to allow citizens to bear arms to protect themselves against rising insecurity in the country.
Mr Ortom said this on Friday at the one-year anniversary of
the re-establishment of the Ministry of Police Affairs.
The Nation Newspaper reported that the Police Inspector
General, Muhammad Adamu, also spoke about how the N13.5 billion approved by
President Muhammadu Buhari for community policing will be spent.
In his reaction to the development, Mr Ortom said Nigerians
must “wake up in order not to be consumed by insecurity”.
“I heard people complaining that Ortom called for Nigerians
to be allowed to carry sophisticated weapons and that it would bring about
anarchy. What about the herdsmen who are carrying AK-47 and kidnapping innocent
Nigerians, raping our women and destroying our villages and towns and becoming
a terror to us? How about them? Why can’t we collect these sophisticated
weapons from them? How many of them have been arrested?” he queried.
He said while his advice has been left unattended to, some
arrested kidnappers have been caught with “AK-47″.
“This is a suggestion that the Federal Government should
take up seriously because in America people are licensed to carry sophisticated
weapons but life is still going on. It is left for the Federal Government to
look at it if my suggestion can be carried but for me, I still stand with my
suggestion,” he was quoted by the paper as saying.
Mr Ortom said security operatives in his state had already
arrested 400 herdsmen who violated the state’s law against open grazing of
animals.
“We have arrested about 400 herdsmen and some are not even Fulani. But majority of them are Fulani and we have prosecuted them,” he said.
“Today, we have convicted more than 130 herdsmen who are
already serving various jail terms and some have paid fines.
“We have arrested over 9000 cattle, but as the law
stipulates, once you pay fine, we release them to you and you transport them.
You no longer go on foot with those cattle within Benue State.
“On the issue of foreign herdsmen coming into the country, I
am happy that the Inspector General of Police some few days ago did say that
these herdsmen are not Nigerians. That is what I said about two to three years
ago.
“I knew it. I am not a security expert. But as governor, I receive briefings and I was able to do my independent investigation and knew that these people are coming for an agenda.
“Nigerians must wake up. If we don’t wake up we will all be
consumed.”
Speaking further, he mentioned that the N13.5 billion approved by the president will support the logistics of the community police officers.
Reached on Saturday, the governor’s spokesperson, Terve
Akaase, told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr Ortom meant that only ‘responsible’ citizens
should be allowed carry arms.
“The governor has long be advocating that the Federal
Government should allow responsible citizens to carry arms. That is
sophisticated weapons. They should license responsible Nigerians so that they
can defend themselves,” he said.
Previous call
Before now, PREMIUM TIMES in 2018 reported that a senator
Zamfara Central Senatorial District, Kabir Marafa, made the same call over
killings across the country.
The lawmaker argued on the floor of the Senate that the Federal
Government needs to liberalise gun control for self-defense believing that the
only advantage criminals have against citizens is the possession of arms.
Nigerians has seen rising insecurity in recent years, with thousands killed mostly in the northern part of the country.
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