Boko Haram Ammunition, Who
Imported them? - MuhdLawal.
(Who is Sending the Guns to
Nigeria?)
As Nigerians were on the street
protesting over fuel subsidy
removal, a British based man was
being arraigned in UK over the
shipping of 80,000 rifles and
pistols and 32 million rounds of
ammunition to Nigeria. The
shipment included 40,000 AK47
assault rifles, 30,000 rifles and
10,000 9mm pistols.
According to a report by the BBC,
the man whose name is Gary
Hyde, shipped these huge arm
cache without receiving
permission from the relevant
government department in the
UK.
Gary Hyde was not alone in this
deal. It was carried out with his
business partner Karl Kleber, a
German national based in
Germany, the court was told.
The pair acted as middle men
between two Polish companies
acting for the Nigerian buyers and
Chinese companies, the court
heard, according to the BBC
report. Both men received
commission payments for the
deals totaling around $1.3m
(£840,000) or N351 million.The
story apparently left several
questions unanswered. Who were
the Nigerian buyers? Were these
guns really delivered to Nigeria
eventually?
It is also interesting that since this
story broke out in the British
media, the Nigerian government
has not come out with any
specific statement on it. Were
these weapons imported by the
Nigerian government? If they
were not imported by the
Nigerian government, have they
made any efforts to trace the
importers of these large numbers
of weapons into the country?
Thirty two million rounds of
ammunition are enough to kill
thirty two million Nigerians,
assuming each bullet will kill a
Nigerian? This may be an
exaggeration, but there is no
doubt that if there is this amount
of guns and ammunition out
there outside the control of the
government, then every Nigerian
has a serious course to be
worried at this time.
The reputation of Gary Hyde, the
man at the centre of the storm
shows that Nigerians have to be
concerned that he has set his eyes
on supplying arms to the country.
A report in February 2011, in The
Observer in UK shows that Hyde is
also facing charges in the US for
smuggling arms into the country.
The Observer describes him as
“Britain’s very own lord of war; an
international arms dealer, whose
chief currency is the AK-47 assault
rifle”
The Observer reports that US
officials arrested Hyde in
connection with the alleged illegal
import into the US of almost 6,000
Chinese-produced AK-47
magazines, each capable of
holding up to 75 rounds of
ammunition.
The Observer also quotes a Wiki
leaks release of confidential US
embassy cables which shows that
in 2008 York Guns, where Gary
Hyde is a director, tried to ship
130,000 of the assault rifles to
Libya. The WikiLeaks revelation
shows that Gary Hyde through his
company acted as an intermediary
between an unidentified
Ukrainian arms manufacturer and
Libyan officials. “The size of the
deal raised eyebrows in
diplomatic circles, as Libya has
only 70,000 ground-force troops
and these would be unlikely to
use a weapon as dated as the
AK-47. The cable noted that the
export licence was rejected
because the “UK is concerned that
the intention may be to re-export
the weapons, particularly to
armed rebel factions backed by
Khartoum and/or Ndjamena in the
Chad/Sudan conflict”.
What emerges from these reports
is that the two men now being
named in connection with supply
of arms to Nigeria should raise
serious concerns in Nigeria. Have
they supplied some other arms
into the country, that the
authorities are not aware?
The concern becomes even more
real considering the fact that at
the same time Gary Hyde was
being arraigned in UK, the
Ghanaian authorities intercepted
a truck loaded with arms and
ammunitions heading to Nigeria.
The ammunitions included pump
action rifles and live rounds.
These arrests are coming at time
the Boko Haram insurgence is
getting worse in Northern Nigeria
as bombs explode on almost on
daily basis and masked men go
on killing spree with sophisticated
weapons.
The activities of Boko Haram, the
continuous crisis in Jos is no
doubt raising serious concerns
and fears of retaliation from other
ethnic groups. Could this inflow of
arms be linked to ethnic groups
arming themselves? Are they
arming themselves to defend
themselves or to go on the
offensive?
- Courtesy MuhdLawal.
Report any suspicious persons
and object to the law
enforcement agencies, as that will
save lives.