Stockpiling Of Arms By Politicians Ahead Of 2019

Idris

On Thursday October 18, 2018, the National Security Council
raised the alarm on security concerns over post-election violence and
stockpiling of weapons by desperate politicians across the country
ahead of the 2019 general elections.
It was part of the outcome of the closed-door meeting that President
Muhammadu Buhari held with the Minister of Defence, Brig.-Gen. Mansur
Dan-Ali (rtd) and Service Chiefs to consider the threats posed by the
arms proliferation and fears of possible postelection violence.
According to media reports, among those who attended the meeting were
National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj.-Gen. Babangana Monguno (rtd);
Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Yusuf Tukur Buratai; Chief of Naval
Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal
Sadique Abubakar, and the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.
Briefing State House Correspondents after the meeting at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Defence Minister said government was
worried over the attitude of some politicians who are likely to whip
sentiments among Nigerians to cause crisis after the 2019 polls. “One
area of security concern includes post-election violence as desperate
politicians may whip up ethno-religious sentiments to create security
situation in the country. “Also of concern is the proliferation and
stockpiling of weapons by some disgruntled elements with a desire to
take laws into their hands at the slightest opportunity,” Dan-Ali
said. Dan-Ali said the meeting, however, recommended the deployment of
security agencies to states for peaceful conduct of the elections.
“The Council recommended deployment of security agencies to states to
enable the elections to be conducted peacefully and to further doused
tension created by the outcome of the political parties’ primaries and
some desperate persons to sabotage the electoral process.” The defence
minister explained that the Security Council called for the concerted
efforts of all security agencies to ensure that 2019 elections are
hitch free. Council, according to him, also called on the need for
continuous sensitization of the public by National Orientation Agency
(NOA) and regular meetings of relevant stakeholders including the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), international/local
observers and the media ahead of the elections.
The defence minister said general overview of the security situation
in the country as it relates to the conduct of the forthcoming 2019
general elections was discussed.
Early this year, the federal government also lamented that at least,
350 million illegal weapons are currently in the country. Minister of
Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau stated this in Abuja in January at a
meeting on proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria.
He also said that this situation might impact on the 2019 general
elections negatively.
While expressing dissatisfaction with proliferation of small arms and
light weapons in the country, he stressed that 70 percent of the 500
million of such weapons in West Africa found their ways to Nigeria.
Citing records by the United Nations Centre for Peace and Disarmament,
he revealed that there are approximately 500 million assorted firearms
in West Africa.
"And out of these 500 million, 70 per cent, approximating 350 million
of them are in Nigeria. And, of course, we know for a fact, that quite
a large consignment of weapons are being smuggled, or have been
smuggled from North Africa, in particular, Libya, as a consequence of
the crisis in that country.
"And, in addition to that, the insurgency in the North East, adds more
of the problem, because of the supplies of weapons to the insurgents
and terrorists there.
"Likewise, we have similar problems in the Niger Delta, where
militants are supplied weapons, not only by trade-by-barter with (with
stolen oil), but also politicians supply weapons, in order to carry
out actions against opponents.
"These are the issues that we hope to deal with, particularly that
2019 elections are coming up. And, quite a lot of movements of these
weapons; people take advantage of that. So, it is very necessary for
us to secure our country", Dambazau said.
Dambazau blamed Nigeria's porous borders for the proliferation of the
illegal weapons. He however, declared that the federal government was
determined to end the trend before the 2019 elections.
Note that Dambazau promised in January that the federal government
wants to end the proliferation of the illegal weapons before the 2019
general elections. Apparently not much has changed between then and
now on curtailing this looming danger. This is because if much had
been done we would not have had our security chiefs telling us again
in October about the stockpiling of arms by desperate politicians.
They should have been telling us about the desperate politicians
stockpiling arms ahead of the 2019 general elections that they have
arrested and charged to court.
It is common knowledge that many politicians in Nigeria are desperate.
They bribe for vote. They kill for vote. They can make a country
ungovernable if the election results do not favour them. They are even
accused of using humans for ritual in desperate bid to acquire power.
Many Nigerians believe whether rightly or wrongly that kidnapping for
rituals heightens in election seasons in Nigeria. These are the prices
that Nigerians pay to have politicians rule over them. However if
ordinary Nigerians complain and lament helplessly about the
destruction being caused in the society by desperate politicians, they
do not expect it from their government.
They expect their government to be proactive. They expect their
government to stop the illegal arms from being imported into the
country. They expect the arrest of politicians stockpiling the arms
and their arraignment in courts. Alas that is not the case.
It is saddening that barely five months to the 2019 general elections,
the government is alerting Nigerians about stockpiling of arms by
Nigerians, instead of what they have done to retrieve the millions of
arms from unauthorized politicians and other merchants of death.
The frightening figure of 350 million illegal arms in unauthorized
hands in a country of about 180million people should alarm any right
thinking Nigerian. It means that the number of illegal arms in the
country is approximately twice the population of the country. These
are enough to wipe off the whole population. Beyond the next election,
we must address the proliferation of illegal arms as a national
emergency. We cannot allow politicians, terrorists, armed robbers,
armed militias and bandits to create private armies that threaten the
existence of this country. Like the President said, we do not have any
other country than Nigeria. We must strive to keep it safe. While the
security of the country is every Nigerian’s business, the
responsibility of protecting lives and property rest squarely on the
government. The constitution is clear about it. It is therefore the
duty of the government to ensure free and fair elections in 2019
devoid of violence and killings whether by politicians or other
non-state actors.