Fire arms: FG replies Akeredolu, Ortoms, others

Following demands by some state governors for a license to acquire automatic guns for their various state security outfits, the federal government on Friday insisted that no state governor has the power to purchase arm anyone or group with automatic weapons.

There had been threats by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State and Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom to arm their state security outfits with AK47 after alleged approval given Katsina State by the federal authorities to acquire such guns for its vigilante group.

The Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, while clarifying the issue in Abuja, made it known that no state or state governor in Nigeria has any authority to acquire weapons of the caliber they were pleading for.

CDS Irabor had joined Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola and Police Affairs Minister Mohammed Maigari Dingyadi to brief State House Correspondents on the decisions of the National Security Council (NSC) held yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where he added that the deployment of high calibre weapons, such as the AK-47 was strictly the responsibility of federal government security agencies.

According to him: “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.

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“What is involved in the class mentioned has to do with automatic weapons. There’s no state that has been given a licence for that. So, you do not ask for what you do not have power to acquire.”

Similarly, Aregbesola stressed: “No state government has been empowered to arm any of its security operatives or agencies. No.

“So, the false claim that the state government is empowered by the federal government to have its own vigilante or sub-national security outfit is false, absolutely false!”

He said while there are conditions under which licence could be granted to people to bear arms, no governor has yet met such conditions.

His words:” 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.”