• Denies empowering Katsina to provide vigilance group with AK47

• Yoruba intellectuals seek re-tooling of Amotekun, hunters for Southwest security

The Federal Government yesterday denied granting the Katsina State Government the right to arm its local vigilance group with AK47 or any other sophisticated weapons.

It also said state governors are not allowed under the law to purchase for or arm anyone or group with such weapons.

Government was responding to recent threats by Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom to arm their state  security outfits with AK47 following alleged approval given Katsina State by the federal authorities to acquire such guns for  its vigilance group.

A group of Yoruba Intellectuals based in North America had also recently thrown its weight behind Governor Akeredolu in demanding Federal Government’s approval of sophisticated weapons for use by the South West security outfit, Amotekun.

In a clarification on the issue yesterday, however, the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, declared that no state or state governor in Nigeria has any authority to acquire weapons of the caliber they were clamouring for.

Irabor, who 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, said the deployment of high calibre weapons, such as the AK-47 was strictly the responsibility of federal government security agencies.

Irabor asked citizens to be weary and always read between the lines when certain requests were sought by state governors.

He said journalists, in particular, should be able to read between the lines when certain comments were made, to elicit certain reactions, as opposed to the reality of the nation’s security setting.

He said:”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.

“So, you do not ask for what you do not have power to acquire.”

Read Also: Amotekun: Akeredolu picks up the gun fight

Also speaking on the matter, Aregbesola said:”No state government has been empowered to arm any of his security operatives or agency. No.

“So, the false claim that the state government is empowered by the federal government to have his 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, armarment or weapons is advised to go through the legitimate process of such activity or act.”

On his part Dingyadi said: “Government has made it categorically clear that it has not issued licence to any state government or organisation to purchase firearms for subnational security measures.

“So, for anybody to say he has given timeline for the federal government to issue you licence, I think he should know that there is due process that one should follow to secure such licences.

He advised “those concerned to please follow the due process to ensure that they get the appropriate response of the federal government on the matter.”

Why Amotekun must be armed, by Apero Yoruba

A group of Yoruba Intellectuals based in North America has thrown its weight behind Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu in demanding Federal Government’s approval of sophisticated weapons for use by the Southwest security outfit, Amotekun.

Àpérò Yoruba Planning Committee, an initiative of Egbe Omo Yoruba, North America, says Southerners, like their Northern counterparts, have a constitutional right to the security of lives and properties as the foremost duty of the government.

The group, in a communiqué at the end of a meeting on security issues in Yorùbá land, faulted the Federal Government for looking “the other way as the Katsina and Borno states provided AK47 rifles for the use of their vigilantes while it declared its opposition to the use of same weapons for other states’ security outfits.”

It described this action of the Federal Government as a classic case of a country with different laws for its different parts.

It said: “This discriminatory approach to security will not be allowed to stand or go unchallenged.

“Apero Yoruba insists that citizens of Southwest states, like their Northern and Southern counterparts have a constitutional right to the security of lives and properties as the foremost duty of the government.

“As such, the governments of the Southwest states have a duty to procure sophisticated weapons like AK47 for Amotekun Security Network since it is now well-recognized that Nigerian Police is incapable of securing the lives of citizens.

“An inequitable treatment of the South vis-à-vis the North in this matter negates the principle of justice and fairness. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.”

It therefore called for the “retooling and retraining of our local hunters, neighborhood watch, and Agb¹kÍya to be fully incorporated into the Southwest security agenda for an effective and holistic security of the region.”

It also demanded that “since our hinterland is smoothly connected and, as a homogeneous people bound together by kinship ties, language, art, folklore, traditions and customs, every state in the Southwest region, including Lagos State, must embrace the establishment of AmÍt¹kun as a regional security outfit. We must realise that security lapse in one state ultimately affects other states.”

Besides, the group suggested a “headcount of every resident and non-resident in the Southwest region in the ‘Operation Know Your Neighbor’ project. The state government, through the local authorities, shall commence a headcount of all the residents and nonresidents in their localities. This is doable and the exigency of time demands it.”

It commended Governor Akeredolu for “taking a strong lead to defend and protect our ancestral land” and urged other Southwest governors to follow the leadership example of Governor Akeredolu on the security of our homeland by being proactive and taking responsibility as the Chief Security Officers of their respective states.”

The communiqué was signed by  Prof. Segun Gbadegesin,Chairman, Apero Planning Committee; Dr. Ayodeji Famuyide, President, Egbe Omo Yoruba, North America; Agba-Akin Rotimi Kuteyi, National Secretary, Egbe Omo Yoruba, North America; and Comrade David Adenekan, for the Publicity and Media Team.

Akeredolu had, last month, vowed to acquire weapons for Amotekun following reports that the federal government had approved sophisticated weapons for a similar security outfit operated by the Katsina State Government.

“The video making the rounds showing the equivalent of the Western Nigeria Security Network (Amotekun Corps) in Katsina, obtaining the approval of the Federal Government to bear arms is fraught with great dangers,” he had said.

“Denying Amotekun the urgently needed rights to legitimately bear arms is a repudiation of the basis of true federalism which we have been clamouring for.”

He accused the federal government of playing double standards with the nation’s security in a game he described as “one country, two systems.”

Only last Thursday  Governor Ortom, during a ceremony marking the Passing-Out Parade of the state’s security outfit known as the Community Volunteer Guard, issued a month ultimatum to the federal government to grant his state’s request for the permit to arm the new outfit with automatic weapons.