President Muhmmadu Buhari and his security chief met on Friday in Abuja and declared that State government-funded security outfits cannot bear automatic arms.
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has been leading his colleagues in the South West to demand approval for the regional security outfit, Amotekun, to be armed with AK-47 rifles in their operations against terrorists and kidnappers in the region.
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State had also on Thursday, during a ceremony marking the Passing-Out Parade of the state’s security outfit, known as the Community Volunteer Guard, issued a one-month ultimatum to the federal government to grant his state’s request for a licence to arm the new outfit with automatic weapons.
But fielding questions on the issue after a National Security Council meeting presided over by President Buhari, the Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor warned that no state or state governor in Nigeria has the authority to acquire weapons of the calibre they requested, saying that the deployment of high calibre weapons, such as AK-47 rifles, among others, lies strictly within the purview of the Federal Government security agencies.
He cautioned that the media must be able to read between the lines when certain comments are made, to elicit certain reactions, as opposed to the reality with respect to what the security setting is.
General Irabor explained that AK-47s and, indeed, “firearms fall into two major categories. You have the automatic weapons and the ones that we may classify as non-automatic weapons which some of you may even have if you have the appropriate licences. Talking about the Pump Action which is the very common ones, and sometimes even the Dane guns some of the hunters use.
“What is involved in the class that mentioned has to do with automatic weapons. There’s no state that has been given licence for that,” he declared, adding that the sole responsibility of licencing lies with the federal government agencies and also to be used by government security agencies and not quasi-security forces.
“So, you do not ask for what you do not have the power to acquire.”
Also speaking on the matter, Aregbesola debunked state governors’ claim that a state chief executive had been given powers to procure firearms for his local security outfit.
He said: “No state government has been empowered to arm any of his security operatives or agency. None. So, the claim that a state government is empowered by the federal government to have his own vigilante or sub-national security outfit is false, absolutely false!”
The Minister of Interior further explained the conditions precedent before the licence to bear arms could be obtained for local use, but which, according to him, the governors had failed to meet.
He said: “There is a procedure for whoever wants to legally bring in any weapon to follow. And whoever is authorised by the law of the land, to bring in legitimate ammunition, including the army, must go through that process.
“So, whoever wants to import ammunition, armament or weapons is advised to go through the legitimate process of such activity or act.”
In his remarks, the Minister of Police Affairs said “the government had made it categorically clear that it has not issued a licence to any state government or to the organisation to purchase firearms for subnational security measures.
“So, for anybody to say he has given a timeline for the federal government to issue you a licence, I think he should know that there are due processes that one should follow to secure such licences.”