JUSTICE and peace advocate, Redzie Jugo, has called on the Nigerian government to amend the Firearm Act (2004) to allow citizens who are vulnerable to attacks to carry arms.
He argued that access to weapons for self-defence could help communities that are prone to attack overpower their assailants as insecurity escalates in some parts of the country.
Jugo, founder of the Starina Initiative for Peace, Justice and Development and a prominent voice for justice, accountability, and community resilience, made the call in an exclusive interview with The ICIR.
“Why don’t you look at the Firearms Act again and take cognisance of the fact that the IG of Police and the President have been given the sole right of making sure that people, the victims of vulnerable communities can have access to those firearms so that they can safeguard themselves and so that they can see another day,” he said.
@theicirWhy local communities should be empowered to defend themselves amidst incessant killings in Benue, Plateau and other states. ↪️Watch the full video: https://youtu.be/6bTArLknImw ↪️Read the interview: https://www.icirnigeria.org/why-nigerias-security-architecture-must-expand-to-empower-local-communities-to-defend-themselves-redzie-jugo/ #StopBenueGenocide♬ original sound – The ICIR
He said the Act impeded communities’ capacity to fight their attackers.
“As it stands, the Firearms Act is a major albatross around the neck of communities. Why do I say that? The terrorists come into these villages with military-grade weaponry, and they assail and pillage and kill innocent women, children, and men. And soon thereafter, when the community vigilantes gather themselves and they want to repel, because that is all that they can do, repel – even the communities that you are referring to, let us face it, it can only be said that they repelled them.
“There are thousands of terrorists with military-grade weapons who are running amok in villages and forests around the place. So imagine that kind of situation. And we are saying that we must do the right thing, and that is to put pressure on the authorities to be able to amend certain policies, certain laws, to be able to allow vulnerable communities to just see another day [have access to arms legally to defend themselves],” he stated.
The ICIR reports that Nigeria has been grappling with persistent insecurity, particularly in the North-Central and North-West.
Benue and Plateau states in the North-Central have been under heavy attacks by suspected herdsmen in recent weeks.
Last Friday, over 200 residents in the Yelewata community in Benue State were killed and over 3,000 persons were displaced during an overnight attack by suspected herdsmen.
In his interview with The ICIR, Jugo, who is also the coordinator of the National Day of Mourning in Plateau State, suggested that the military could create a department that would be in charge of training local vigilantes in vulnerable communities, since the armed forces could not be present in every community at all times.
He said such a structure would help strengthen grassroots defence mechanisms.
“You may not find one military or one police individual right now in a Kemapa community in a village of Bassa LGA in Plateau State…We cannot get the personnel who can go to Benue LGAs, or can be in Lantang, or can be in Mangu at every point in time, but you can engage the locals to be able to operate under the auspices of the law,” he added.
According to him, the conversation on the amendment to the Firearms Act has not gone far for political reasons, noting that a lot of people shy away from it.
“I spoke to a couple of members of the National Assembly, and it was not something they wanted to speak about,” he said.
Jugo noted further that some of the communities in Plateau State had been taken over and renamed by assailants.
“And we heard very painfully how some of those communities, the Jol community in Riyom local government, had their names changed.
“A week or two after an attack, a man went back to his house. There was somebody living in his house, and there was a woman there. And when he looked flabbergasted at the situation, she quickly advised him to leave the house before her husband came back,” he recalled.
He also urged state governors to unite and present a common front by engaging President Bola Tinubu in direct conversations over the Act.
Jugo warned that the insecurity crisis could eventually consume Nigeria if not well handled.
There is a war going on to take over the Nigerian state, and except we see it for what it is, this war will reach every locality. And Nigeria, as we know it today, will become the Central African Republic tomorrow, or Libya, or Afghanistan, name them.”
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues.