Abdul’Aziz Yari Abubakar, Zamfara State Governor has been accused of
purchasing guns and ammunition for the purpose of arming vigilance groups. Vice
Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Senator
Sha’aba Lafiagi made the allegation in the Senate yesterday during a debate on a
motion entitled: “The plan of the Zamfara State Governor to arm vigilance
groups in the state with rifles.”
The upper chamber was, however, divided as some Senators supported the
governor’s efforts to secure the state while others argued that the matter
should not be narrowed down to Zamfara, but to other states facing similar
security challenges.
However, the Senate, in its resolution, urged President Goodluck
Jonathan to deploy more security personnel in Zamfara and other states facing
similar security challenges. Senator Basheer Garba Mohammed, alongside 46 other
Senators, sponsored the motion.
Meanwhile, the arms are reportedly in the custody of security agencies
in the state, pending distribution. Lafiagi said that the governor approached
the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, for the permit. But
there is a snag.
The governor was said to have procured the weapons without a permit from
the relevant approving authorities, according to Lafiagi. His words: “I am a
member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee…The governor
admitted that he had procured the arms and had just approached the
Inspector-General of Police for the permit.
The Inspector-General, from what we heard, is still withholding the
approval. But have we asked ourselves this question; how did a governor have
easy access to buy and store arms easily? Is it because he has immunity?”
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the session,
described the situation in Zamfara “ as worrisome. It’s time the police do
something to help the people of Zamfara. We have proliferation of arms, but it
is somehow necessary.
We should find a way of regulating it. It’s time we look holistically at
securing the lives of Nigerians.” Ekweremadu condemned the manner in which
armed men invaded some Zamfara, communities, robbed the people and fled into
the forests, only to return another day to rob them. He urged the police to provide
security for the citizens, while the issue of legality or illegality of
fire-arms possession should be seriously addressed.
Moving the motion earlier, Senator Mohammed raised the alarm over easy
access to arms by groups “that are neither trained nor authorised to bear arms
and the rate at which groups and individuals now take to armed resistance. He
noted that the foregoing was partly responsible for the security challenges
experienced in many parts of the country, including Zamfara State.
The senator noted that the governor’s decision to arm the vigilance
groups in Zamfara with rifles was capable of further jeopardising the fragile
security situation in the state. Immediately Mohammed concluded his motion,
Ekweremadu beckoned on Senator Kabiru Marafa from Zamfara State to speak.
Recall that Marafa had on Wednesday this week engaged his colleague, Senator
Paulinus Igwe, on the motion, over which they almost exchanged blows, but for
the timely intervention of the Sergeant-at-Arms. Contributing, Marafa pleaded
with the chamber to disregard the motion on the premise that the reports on
which the information was based, are false.
Marafa also told his colleagues that the security incident which was
reported in a northern newspaper with headquarters in Abuja (names withheld)
happened in November 2012 and the governor never procured arms. Disturbed by
the information, Sen. Abdul Ningi called for probe into the “illegal” purchase,
stressing that if unchallenged, other states could follow suit. Sen. Ita Enang
wondered where Customs officials were when the weapons were being imported into
the country, while Sen. Magnus Ngei Abe called for thorough investigation into
the matter.
Said Abe: “There’s nowhere in the world where one police force provides
security for the whole federation. It’s only in Nigeria that we see this. “It
would be unjust for us to take action on what the governor has done, based on
just a newspaper report…” Supporting Enang, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa asked
rhetorically how the guns were purchased.
“How were the guns and ammunition purchased? These are the issues we
need to investigate. We need to find out from the governor, the processes he
passed through before getting the guns and ammunition. We also need to also ask
the police whether they were involved or not…” Senator Ali Ndume, in his
contribution, declared that almost half of the 109 Senators own guns, even
although he was opposed to the motion.
His words: “The problem we have in Zamfara State is because most of the
citizens are harmless…Why is it that almost half of us here own guns?” Senators
immediately shouted: No, no, no! This prompted Ekweremadu to ask Ndume to
withdraw the statement. “You have to retract that statement…you didn’t go with
them to their bedrooms to know that they own guns, did you?”
After making elaborate explanation, where he said that because there is
an extant law which allows Nigerians to own guns after a successful application
to the appropriate authorities and he believed that his colleagues would have
gone through the process, Ndume apologised and withdrew the statement. “I
withdraw the statement on the assumption that we don’t own arms…” Ndume said.
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