Rifles, automatic firearms, others shipped from US to Nigeria before 2019 elections; American exporters arraigned

A consignment of arms and ammunition from the US landed in Nigeria before the 2019 general elections. It was all illegal, and the importers are still at large.

But the US exporters have just been charged, and are facing up to 30 years in jail if the court convicts them.

The trio, Wilson Nuyila Tita, 45; Eric Fru Nji, 40 and Wilson Che Fonguh, 39 were charged Thursday for violating Arms Export Control Act and the Export Reform Control Act, relating to the export of firearms and ammunition from the United States to Nigeria.

According to the rap sheet, specifically on January 17, 2019, “38 semi-automatic firearms; over 35,000 rounds of ammunition; and 44 magazines, one Bushnell Trophy Rifle Optic and one Burris AR Rifle Scope, 28 firearms with obliterated serial numbers, including 18 rifles were exported to Nigeria.

The most recent estimate of Small and Light Weapons in Nigeria stands at 350 million, and most of them come from neighboring countries, including Burkina Faso, Libya, Niger, and Mali, smuggled in through Nigeria’s porous land borders.

The Americans, however, hid the items in heavily wrapped packages and duffle bags, and inside sealed compressor units, placing those items into a shipping container and shipped them to Nigeria and at least one other location in Africa.

Going by the four counts levelled at the three, from at least, November 2017 through July 19, 2019, they contributed funds and conspired conspired with each other and with others to export from the United States to Nigeria defense articles and items identified on the United States Munitions List (“USML”) and the Commerce Control List (“CCL”) without first obtaining export licenses.

They all have pleaded guilty.