Governor in trouble over illegal importation of weapons
Zamfara State Governor Abdul’Aziz Yari Abubakar 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.
Source: The Sun
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