By Remi Adebayo

There is no need to soothsaying that the Nigerian security situation is fast snowballing into a hopeless situation if radical measures are not swiftly adopted; particularly at a time that indices point at the obvious.

What is more? The citizens are well informed about the basic responsibility of government as contained in Section 14(2)(b) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, which clearly states, that: “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.”

Ask, from the North to South, Nigerian citizens are today living in evident fear when commuting by any means, when seeking refuge from God in places of worship, or even at home.

Aside theft; armed robbery, banditry, kidnapping and now dreaded unknown gunmen, with terrorism as being championed by the Islamic State in West Africa Province, ISWAP, and Boko Haram; Nigerians are faces with security nuisances.

Of late, the bewildering mass murder at St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, the abduction and killings of travellers on the Abuja-Kaduna train, abduction and killings of persons that include clerics at locations across the country, as well as endless attack on peoples in Zamfara and other states have heightened the fear among Nigerians.

Governors, acclaimed to be the chief security officers of their respective states are becoming jittery and alarmed that the central security architecture are not helpful and are themselves being pushed to devise measures considered drastic to protect their residents.

Last year, in the height of incessant attacks on the Southwest, governors in the region came up with establishing the Western Nigeria Security Network, (WNSN) codenamed Amotekun Corps. This initiative was conceived to reinforce the efforts of conventional security agencies, just as the formation of the Civilian Joint Task Force, CJTF, in the Northeast to fight against insurgency in the region.

With the initial resistance against Amotekun from many quarters, including the Federal Government cleared, governors in the Southwest states eventually gave life to the Corps by enacting laws to support the security network in their states and it is today hailed for helping to lower the instances of attack in the region by working with other security agencies.

Many have however criticized the security network for its deficiency to procure and deploy proportional sophisticated arms and weapons with capacity to engage and defeat the criminals.

However, the success of Corps in states where they have the full commitment of the governors suggest that more could still be done with the Corps in the coming years.

For instance, last week, the Ondo State Command of the WNSN at a press conference announced that assailants that killed worshippers at St. Francis Church, Owo have been apprehended by its operatives. While the nation awaits full disclosure of the identities and persons alleged to have been arrested in relation to the incident, the confidence in the ability of Amotekun, being an indigenous security organization to tame insecurity is getting a boost.

With deadly attacks last year on Igangan, a town in Oyo State, and the tension that was generated in the state, the Oyo State governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde is one of these governors whose action and commitment to the security of the state by giving necessary tools to Amotekun and supporting other security agencies in the state has remained commendable.

The attack, and reprisal that almost degenerated in Oyo State was fairly responded to by the Governor, who just approved the recruitment of additional 500 personnel to reinforce the strength of Amotekun in Oyo state, this is aside the consistent investment in infrastructures to aid their operations across the state.

The Governor stated this at a security meeting with local government Chairmen, Vice Chairmen, heads of security agencies and traditional rulers among other stakeholders at the House of Chiefs, Secretariat in Ibadan at the weekend.

Governor Makinde said the measure is part of his administration’s efforts to enhance security of lives and property in the State.

Similarly, following the recent Owo terrorist attack on worshippers, the Ondo State governor, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, at the weekend, ordered compulsory installation of Close Circuit Television, CCTV, at all public and private institutions throughout the state.

Akeredolu had, through an Executive Order stated that the measure became imperative in the light of the increased spate of insecurity in the country and the need to ensure security of lives and properties in all public and private institutions and centres throughout the state.

“The executive order shall be enforced at all religious places of worship, financial institutions (of all kinds), event centres, supermarkets, educational institutions, hotels/motels, guest house, inns, restaurants, clinics and health centres, eateries (of all kinds), recreation or vehicular parks and other places regularly used by the public,” a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Richard Olatunde disclosed on Saturday.

Also thinking out of the proverbial box is the Zamfara State governor, Bello Matawale. On his part, the Governor considered that the reality in his state has reached the point for citizens to bear arms to defend themselves against bandits.

“Government has henceforth, directed individuals to prepare and obtain guns to defend themselves against the bandits, as government has directed the state commissioner of police to issue license to all those who qualify and are wishing to obtain such guns to defend themselves.

"Government is ready to facilitate people, especially our farmers to secure basic weapons for defending themselves. Government has already concluded arrangement to distribute 500 forms to each of the 19 Emirates in the state for those willing to obtain guns to defend themselves,” Ibrahim Dosara, Commissioner of Information, said in a statement.

The decision of the Governor reinforced his earlier call in June 2021, for residents to defend their communities. And Matawale is not alone, in August 2021, Governor of Katsina State, Aminu Bello Masari, also urged residents in areas prone to banditry to acquire weapons and defend themselves against the outlaws.

“We must all rise up to counter the insecurity challenge, we must not sit and watch some people buying guns attacking our houses,” Masari then said.

The Zamfara State Commissioner of Police, Ayuba Elkana, has however distanced himself from the directive by Governor Matawale. While reacting to the directive, Elkana told The[i] PUNCH[/i] that the Police have stopped giving licenses to citizens who wish to bear arms.

“I have not received any directives, and also, there is a ban on firearms licenses, and we don’t give licenses.

With this denial, the Zamfara State’s directive might have suffered setback as it will pitch the state, like at the inception of the WNSN, with the Nigeria Police and likely, the Federal Government.

This, again will test the collusion governors often face with the federal government even when faced with frustrations that arise from instances of insecurity.

The struggle by these governors also exposes the nation to revive the clamour that Nigeria is indeed ripe for a decentralized policing structure where states can be significantly responsible for handling managing directly the security of life and property in their respective states without limitations.

Section 33 (1) of the Nigerian Constitution provides that “every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria”.

No doubt, the hoodlums that have held the nation to ransom have significant disregarded this; but the law is also not blind to what the people can do at such instance through self-defense.

The question many have repeatedly asked is the limitations of citizens while defending him or herself? Does the law permit a Nigerian citizen to bear arms; and who determines the extend of such defense?

Zamfara, and other states, are today faced with the reality to stand together in building a consensus to resolve the insecurity in their states. While the fears associated with proliferation and abuse may dominate arguments on issuing licenses to bear arms by individuals, another look at winning the war is the state police which has become imperative today.

State governments now have a chance to jettison their partisan or regional differences to revive the quest for state policing and make necessary constitutional reforms for states to have direct control on its security as it is only through such platform, that it can guarantee accountable handling of arms in official hands, and put those equipped with one under surveillance against any form of abuse.

This must also provide the state executives to provide the long-term non-kinetic engagement that scale down on radical and views, educating the population of their school age residents and provide jobs and innovations to discourage recruitment of ignorant and idle hands to swell the ranks of troubling elements nationwide.

Remi Adebayo is a journalist, he writes from Abuja.

https://abujacityjournal.com/news.php?a=[OPINION]-Insecurity-And-Governors%E2%80%99-Drastic-Search-for-Solution