Aribigbola Afolabi

It is a well-known and widely acknowledged fact that Nigeria is suffering from serious security challenges that seem intractable in recent times from the activities of dangerous groups including terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, herder killers, ritual killers, armed robbers, Boko haram among others.

Unfortunately, the existing security architecture appears overwhelmed and helpless while innocent Nigerians are being molested, harassed and killed in thousands.

Against the above background and the need to put a stop to the dangerous and denigrating activities of these criminals and enemies of peace and progress of Nigeria, several efforts and actions have been instituted to stem the dangerous tide. These efforts for a number of reasons have not yielded the desired result of ridding the society of dare devil criminals.

This failure and continuous killings in the country have motivated many individuals and groups to call for the establishment of state police in the country and some others have suggested that all citizens be allowed to carry arms. However, these genuine, sincere and germane calls seem not attractive and acceptable to some sections of the country including the federal government,that insisted that the constitution of the country does not provide for regional security outfits as federating units. The above notwithstanding and in response to the failure and seeming inability of existing security apparatus to curb the humongous security challenges facing Nigeria and in response to the rising wave of insecurity in the country with the consequences of loss of lives and property, the six western states of Nigeria in January 2020 inaugurated a security outfit named Amotekun to protect the southwestern states. This was also in response to the need to discharge the purpose of government to protect lives and property of their citizenry.

In essence, Amotekun was established to protect the lives and properties of the people being decimated daily by dangerous criminals that have taken over all sections of the country including the Southwest. Since the creation of Amotekun Corps in Ondo State, it has been performing creditable well to rid the state of dare devil criminals and killers. In general, there are incontrovertible evidences that wanton killings, armed robbery, kidnapping, herders destructive activities and other forms of criminality that reached intolerable level in 2019 have drastically reduced in Ondo State. Many of the criminals have relocated from Ondo State to other neighbouring states. In addition, incidences of farmers-herders clashes with their attendant consequences have also reduced tremendously. In a nutshell, there is now improved and better safety of lives and property thus encouraging the citizenry to go about their lawful businesses including farming that is the dominant occupation of the people which they hitherto abandoned because of fear of being attacked.

However, the organization is confronted with a number of problems. Some of the challenges facing Amotekun are inadequate personnel, finance and lack of sophisticated firearms to confront criminals bearing highly sophisticated modern weapons to terrorise residents of the state. The Ondo state government has taken bold and commendable steps to address the issue of paucity of funds by making more funds available and inadequate personnel by the ongoing recruitment and training of 350 additional men that recently passed out from the training school. However, the most important problem facing the establishment, the restriction on the use of sophisticated weapons, is yet to be resolved.

It should be emphasized that the organization will not be able to undertake its assignment effectively without sophisticated arms. At the moment, it is common knowledge that these criminals carry out their dastard activities with the use of sophisticated weapons including grenade and dynamite whereas, the corps are only allowed to bear dane guns and double barrels that are only good in hunting unarmed animals that ordinarily run when they see human beings. The implication of this wide gap between ammunition being used by criminals including herders brandishing AK47 and Amotekun carrying dane guns is that they will not be able to match or confront criminals with modern sophisticated arms. Therefore, the crucial issue is that of arming the organization with sophisticated weapons that can cope with the challenge of the time as posed by the criminals that have access to better firearms. This should be addressed urgently to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the corps. To this end, there has been several calls by individuals and groups to allow local security outfits such as Amotekun to carry sophisticated arms.

Besides the bold and courageous call by the Governor of Ondo State, the Governor of Benue State has also added his voice to the agitations for local security organisations to carry sophisticated arms such as Ak-47 and AK-49. The Northern Governors Forum that has been against state police has now come to agitate for it. The request for Amotekun to carry sophisticated arms is hinged on the fact that the criminal elements they are dealing with such as bandits, kidnappers and herder killers arm themselves with modern and sophisticated weapons which double barrel and dane guns are no match.

These calls become more cogent because reports indicate that some non-state actors hired to protect oil pipelines for instance and many thugs serving politicians openly display sophisticated weapons with impunity. Why would a security organization created by an enabling law be denied this opportunity to discharge its legitimate duties of wiping out criminals in the society?

In addition, if the Katsina State local security outfit could been granted permission to carry sophisticated arms, then Amotekun should also be granted such opportunity to promote its operational efficiency. In the face of escalating insecurity and demand for improved protection from ravaging dare devil criminals, therefore, to make Amotekun effective and be able to discharge their onerous responsibilities of ridding the society of criminals, the time is ripe for them to be allowed to carry sophisticated arms. Afterall, in other climes such as the United States of America, Czeck Republic, Denmark, Finland, Austria, France, and some African countries such as Uganda, private security firms are allowed to use sophisticated arms. Therefore, there is nothing preventing Amotekun from carrying sophisticated arms since they now deal with dare devil criminals with sophisticated weapons. Permitting them to carry sophisticated arms will bolster their morale, courage and commitment to put a stop to all criminal activities in the state and beyond.

The time is thus now to grant the corps authority to carry sophisticated arms. Otherwise, they will continue to be incapacitated in the discharge of their crucial functions of wiping out criminals in the state. In addition to securing suitable sophisticated weapons for the corps, the people must support them with useful and valuable information that will assist them in fishing out criminals. Of course, the state government should not relent in her commendable efforts at ensuring that the corps is allowed to bear adequate sophisticated weapons that can match and surpass that being brandished around by criminals in the state and elsewhere.