The ‘gun-for-all’ debate

 Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle has apparently reached tolerance limits over persisting insecurity that hobbles his state and exerts a heavy toll on residents, and he isn’t pulling punches any longer to tackle down the menace. His latest recourse was a call on the people to get their own guns for self-defence against bandits. He rallied the residents to apply for licence from the police and acquire guns and other handy weapons to defend themselves.

In a statement early last week, the Zamfara government declared its readiness to facilitate acquisition of guns and other weapons by state residents for self-defence.  “Government has henceforth directed individuals to prepare and obtain guns to defend themselves against the bandits, as government has directed the state commissioner of police to issue licences to all those who qualify and are willing to obtain guns to defend themselves,” the statement said, adding: “Government is ready to facilitate people, especially our farmers to secure basic weapons… People must apply from the commissioner of police licence to own guns and such other basic weapons to be used in defending themselves.” Not that the Matawalle administration was thereby folding its arms, as it “ordered the recruitment of 200 additional Community Protection Guards in each of the 19 emirates of the state, making it 500 per emirate, to increase their manpower and strengthen its force and capacity to deal with the bandits,” the statement noted. Among others, it as well cited the governor as having constituted four new committees on security matters and reinforced a directive to the police to shoot on sight motorcyclists who operate in defiance of a subsisting ban by government. 

The call on citizens to bear arm implied inability by the state to provide them protection, and so it rankled with security top brass. Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor, said the Zamfara governor overreached himself as he had no power to give such directive, besides that the armed forces and other security agencies were there to handle the challenges. “In my view, it is not the right way to go. Of course, there are actions that members of the security agencies and the armed forces, in particular, the police and other security agencies are doing to address insecurity in Zamfara and environs. Beyond that, of course, there are other legal issues, other issues of governance, issues that the governor could have addressed using the instrumentality of law that is available for him to bring greater peace and security,” the CDS said in Abuja, adding: “If what I read is true, I do not think the governor has the power to instruct the commissioner of police to issue licences, because the commissioner of police does not have the power to issue licences.” Also signalling that the governor’s call was for mere audio effect, Zamfara State Commissioner of Police Ayuba Elkana insisted that the embargo on firearms licences remained in force. Against the backdrop of the Zamfara government saying he had been directed to issue gun licences, the police chief was reported denying such directive in response to media enquiry. “I have not received any directive, and also there is a ban on firearms licence and we don’t issue licence. I am yet to receive any directive, so I cannot comment on compliance,” he said.   

But Matawalle doubled down last week amidst a flurry of measures to upend the menace of insecurity in his state. On Monday, he inaugurated the committees on security matters and kitted them with 20 new vans and 1,500 motorbikes to enable them begin operations. And on the following day, he signed the anti-banditry and related offences bill that was passed by the state legislature into law. The governor noted that the new law, which stipulates the death penalty for banditry and related offences as well as for informants of bandits, was part of his administration’s effort to address the nagging challenge of insecurity in the state.

He said he had earlier signed some Executive Orders that provided legal backing and operational guidelines for the newly inaugurated security committees, arguing that the most fundamental responsibility of governance anywhere in the world is security. Concerning the blowback against his arm-up directive to residents, the governor said: “Those making insinuations about our decision to support the right of community members to self-defence against ruthless attacks by bandits ought to take into consideration the scale of the problem we are facing. They should take into account the plight of the innocent people who are maimed, killed and kidnapped every day in various parts of the state.”

 

“Matawalle’s call on Zamfara residents to arm-up is a Freudian escape from the frustrating dilemma posed by the existing security architecture.”

The governor also argued that Zamfara’s Community Protection Guards were no different from the Civilian Joint Task Force in Borno State and the Amotekun in Southwest states. He said: “Our move is particularly significant considering the fact that there is currently no part of the country that is not facing one form of insecurity or the other. Our conventional security forces are operating in various theatres ranging from Southwest to Southeast, Northeast to Northcentral, heroically battling with varying degrees of security challenges. They are not only overstretched but also lack enough modern equipment to prosecute counter-banditry and insurgency warfare effectively.” According to him, the move by Zamfara government is aimed at complementing the efforts of the security forces “with the ultimate goal of totally defeating the miscreants.” At the earlier event, he had said the acquisition and usage of firearms by Zamfara residents who desire would be governed by the Nigeria Firearms Act, noting that self-defence is a natural instinct and has always been part of human survival strategy.

By the present design of the Nigerian nationhood, state commissioners of police do not take absolute orders from state governors, hence we can’t dismiss the argument that the Zamfara helmsman overreached himself with the purported directive to the state police chief to issue gun permits. Zamfara Police Commissioner Elkana illustrated the point by reaffirming the embargo on firearms licences and denying being in receipt of any directive from Mr. Governor to issue such licence, whereas the state government in its public statement claimed he had been so directed. If the government truly gave the directive, it fell flat ab initio and was of no effect. And so, the legal cover it envisaged for the call on residents to arm-up was beyond reach and the call a nullity. 

But Matawalle’s exasperation over relentless spate of insecurity in his domain also illustrates the fundamental inadequacy of the existing security architecture. His call was a cry for help amidst annoying helplessness in the face of an existential threat that he and the state residents he watches over feel the most, and on which the national security agencies are not getting a handle fast enough. It must be more exasperating that he who feels the heat of the insecurity challenge – both in personal and representative capacity for his people – has no directive authority over agencies tasked with addressing the challenge. He is in a sense at the mercy, on one hand of the bandits posing existential threat to his people, and on the other security agencies being endlessly waited upon to eliminate the threat. Although he is constitutionally designated the state’s chief security officer, he is in no position to guarantee security because the implementing agencies do not take directives from him. Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike once derided the ‘chief security officer’ tag by saying state governors were in reality chief logistics officers. Matawalle’s call on Zamfara residents to arm-up is a Freudian escape from the frustrating dilemma posed by the existing security architecture.

Incidentally, the Zamfara governor isn’t the only one who has called citizens to arm, but he is alone in assaying to give official imprimatur to the call by touting a directive for gun licence issuance. Both Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari and his Benue counterpart, Governor Samuel Ortom, at different times in 2021 rallied their people to defend themselves against incessant fatal attacks – by terrorists in the case of Katsina, and herdsmen militias in Benue. They had an unexpected ‘patron saint’ in Defence Minister Major-Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd.), who earlier in 2021 challenged Nigerians to show they aren’t cowards by defending themselves against bandits. The call to self-defence will resonate until security in Nigeria is truly federalised and states empowered to deal with the menace – practically and not just nominally.