A senior lecturer, Professor Oyesoji Aremu has warned that allowing Nigerians to bear arms, as a way of protecting themselves against bandits, will pose a great threat to the unity and security of an average Nigerian.
Aremu who is of the Department of Counselling and Human Development, University of Ibadan, gave the warning while speaking with Rulers’ World in his reaction to the call by Governor Bello Masari of Katsina State, on residents of the state to acquire weapons to defend themselves against bandits.
He maintained that the call by the governor was borne out of frustration of his administration in contending with the pervasive insurgence in the state.
According to him, “I think the call by the governor was borne out of frustration of his administration in contending with the continuous insurgence over there. Even at that, one should again need to interrogate that call because, if a governor is saying that Nigerians should take up arms then the question is what is the function or role of the government.
“The absolute role of any government is the protection of lives and property. As long as the government cannot do that, that government is not supposed to be in power again. It shows the government is not alive to its responsibilities expected of the state. It is the state that is supposed to provide the citizens with adequate security.
“When the governor is saying this, it was borne out of frustration and it needs further interrogation.”
On the implications of Nigerians acquiring weapons to defend themselves, Aremu said, “The implication of this is very simple if citizens are requested to carry arms that mean it will get to a state of anomie and disorderliness in which everything is unregulated again. You know people can just get frustrated and begin to kill people. People that carry arms are supposed to be licensed.”
“Are we saying every Nigerian should be licensed to carry arms or do we have the capacity to be able to handle that? Allowing all Nigerians to carry arms poses a great threat to the unity and security of an average Nigerian because it could be a problem.
“The way forward is for people to be proactive security-wise. People should be able to secure themselves”, he added.
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