Security agents in the country have been issued presidential order to arrest illegal bearers of arms. The directive came after the National Security Council meeting by President Muhammadu Buhari, Defence Minister; Monsur Dan-Ali and the service chiefs which took place on Thursday.
The president on his Twitter handle, yesterday said, his government was “stepping up our efforts to tackle the proliferation of small arms and light weapons across the country.
“The security agencies already have standing instructions to arrest and prosecute anyone found with illegal arms.”
However, the Minister of Defence, Dan-Ali, emerging from Thursday’s NSC meeting, told reporters that the killings in parts of the country could not be blamed solely on herdsmen, because, “there are also militias who also carry arms.”
He said: “Some people were caught with arms and they call themselves Forest Guards or whatever with AK47.
“There is nowhere in this country where arms are allowed to be carried apart from legitimate security forces.
So, anybody carrying any arm is doing so illegally.”
This directive is a welcome development with the ongoing killings by Fulani herdsmen. Fulani herdsmen have been sighted carrying arms, and the government has been blamed and criticized for looking the other way while the herdsmen went on a killing rampage.
