Following Up On Governor Ortoms Call For Gun Possession

 In a recent submission to the Centre for values in leadership, in collaboration with the Governors forum, Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, suggested that responsible Nigerians be allowed to carry AK47’s to reduce insecurity in the land.

Coming from a state ravaged by ethnic cleansing and genocidal slaughter by suspected Fulani herdsmen his suggestion was not greeted by the strong applause it deserved especially from an advocate and government official so highly placed, perhaps because his call may have been perceived as a suggestion based on solving the background of violence in Benue State alone.

In retrospect, it is time for Nigerians to not disregard his suggestion and to take the call for  gun possession by all Nigerians more seriously with the flight into worsening insecurity and endless slaughter and killings and burglaries and carjacking’s and kidnappings of Nigerians today, especially since the federal government cannot guarantee the safety of Nigerians, a core human right and need.

Must Nigerians stand idly by and watch themselves killed without any means of defending themselves, your answer is as good as the response of the next man.

The present state of insecurity in Nigeria is the fundamental reason why Americans have found themselves unable to revoke the 2nd amendment of the United States constitution, which is “the right to bear arms”, despite the steady violence and deaths from possession and use of firearms by citizens on each other. The reason is simply that no individual wants to be left helpless and defenseless in the face of grave danger that would unlawfully dispossess them of their life, freedom or property.

Which brings us back to the stark contrast in Nigeria where the government is unable to stop ethnic militias from committing genocide on an industrial scale, complicated by reports of collusion by security forces and the suspicious disarming of target communities leaving them defenseless with poor response from security forces during attacks.

Quite recently, the federal government banned the possession of handguns by Nigerians recently no doubt to reduce violence, even as Fulani herdsmen, the alleged perpetrators of killings across the nation are seen escorting their cattle brandishing AK47’s.

Governor Ortom’s call that responsible citizens be allowed to carry weapons is typical of his style of firstly making highly persuasive and diplomatic entreaties followed by undercover resistance when pushed to the wall, but mostly after bouts of violence, for political cover, but it is up to Nigerians to pick up the gauntlet of the beginning of a national conversation to demand for a wholesale possession of firearms by all Nigerians especially in areas that have experienced repeated genocide.

However even the basic implementation of his call which would require repeal of the order against firearm possession immediately runs into the problem of implementation given Nigeria’s extremely poor and lack of vital and historical records of its citizens from infancy.

You immediately begin to wonder how any government agency would know how to adjudge an individual responsible, would the assessment be based on his status or would it be backed by  psychiatric evaluation and criminal histories and other behavioral records in a nation full of “walking psychos”.

Who will certify the degree of responsibility of individuals to not end heated arguments with gunfire and will guns be only assigned to a few responsible elite in cities and a few notables in local governments areas, will those guns in the hands of so few be enough to thwart a rampaging enemy militia if responsible peasants are excluded on a vast scale, certainly not.

The last question is how will firearms be sold to the public, will they all be sold and registered at police stations after swearing an affidavit and being dis-incentivized by red tape, long queues and bribery demands or will they be sold by private enterprise who would vet Nigerians following guidelines. 

Does Nigeria have enough ballistic labs to identify and trace bullets to registered handguns and would monitoring registered handguns and bullets from them matter since Nigeria has refused to enforce border restrictions and checks to slow down the infiltration of small arms into Nigeria from the Sahel on such an unprecedented scale as estimated by some NGO’s.

Reviewing the whole matter can only bring us to the equitable conclusion that only a wholesale allowance for all Nigerians to possess arms along with easy access will allow for a sweeping reduction of insecurity across the land against crime and genocidal attack by ethnic militias who can be thwarted by armed civilians grouped into vigilante militias in the long term.

Wholesale access brings us to our characterization of Nigerians as a nation of walking psychos, no policy maker in all honesty will recommend access to ownership of firearms by all Nigerians without consideration of the extreme volatility from undiagnosed and untreated mental illness suffered by a majority of Nigerians pushed to the brink by extreme hardship and severe deprivation.

Possession of a firearm by all Nigerians may be an invitation to unprecedented mayhem and anarchy on a wide scale and may defeat the benefits of arming Nigerians to reduce insecurity.

Anyone who doubts the short trigger temper of Nigerians and the resort to violence can simply review escalating spousal killings or statistics from extra judicial shootings by the armed forces and police who are supposed to maintain law and order to the endless communal and tribal clashes across the land mostly carried out with Machetes and cudgels, or the jungle justice meted to thieves to be fearful of civilians with guns.

Despite all the possible negative outcomes, it is time for all Nigerians to call for the systematic access to guns by all Nigerians and by regulated militias to stem rising insecurity across the land as a realistic concession by the government that it is totally overwhelmed at providing security and preventing genocide.

Of utmost priority, the right of access to guns and to bear arms must be enshrined in the constitution or encoded in any future agreement involving a restructured Nigeria, as the protection of lives is of utmost importance and a balance of power through the possession of firearms by all, may provide the incentive for peace in the long term if vigorously controlled and sanctions enforced.

The Federal government currently overwhelmed by violence across the land cannot focus on the negatives aspects of wholesale gun ownership across the land, it must instead blindly focus on ensuring the success of such measures by accelerating the integration of citizen databases to identify and document the characteristics of all Nigerians from infancy and reduce police civilian ratios by introducing state police and supporting newly formed security forces like Hisbah and Amotekun as part of its long term strategy to reduce insecurity.

By Terhemba Osuji

A Public Policy and Security Analyst.