ARMING US AT NIGHT & AIDING US IN THE DAY
(Onitsha Nigeria, 24th of May
2016)-Following intensification of regime malfunctioning of the APC and Buhari led Presidency in
Nigeria and ahead of this week’s G-7 Meeting in the Japanese City of Ise-Shima,
we have considered it upper most
important to expose the double standards of the named developed countries with respect to Nigeria and its affairs particularly under the present Buhari
administration. We are deeply dismayed concerning the double-edged policies of
the members of the Group of Seven Industrialized or Developed Countries (G-7) and
their allies including the EU on one
hand and Russia and China, on the other; towards the Federal Republic of
Nigeria and its socio-political affairs.
The 42nd
G-7
summit in Japan is featuring its seven core members of USA, UK, Canada,
France, Italy, Germany and Japan, to be
joined by the European Union. The world’s small arms and light weapons’
production markets are dominated by USA and Russia, followed by Germany, UK,
Italy, China and other members of old
west and east European blocs. Other non-western countries playing leading roles
in global SALWs production markets are Brazil, Japan, North Korea, India, etc. Russia and USA
alone are credited with hundreds of
assault and automatic rifles of different models; likewise mortars, rockets, anti tank and personnel mines and grenades; all
referred to as “Small Arms & Light Weapons (SALWs).
To the extent
that Nigeria
and Nigerians are armed at night and aided in the day through piecemeal
humanitarian aids by the above named
countries, is a height of diplomatic kill-and-bury and a clear
return of the west’s atrocious
double-standards foreign policies towards Africa and Asia in the 60s, 70s and 80s. These blundered foreign policies
were also applied in the Africa’s Great Lakes Region in the
90s by the west; Russia and China to an
extent, under proxy arming and proxy wars; snowballing into the Rwandan
Genocide of 1994; killing almost one million people in three months.
The war mongering policies of the Buhari
administration and its confrontational approaches to issues of democratic
governance and its challenges have cumulatively heightened communal, tribal and
ethno-religious tensions in Nigeria and facilitated fertile grounds for the
countries named above; by themselves or through their proxies, to sell their small
arms and light weapons (SALWs) at alarming speed and use the country as
the latest
rogue weapons’ basket of the West African sub-region.
It alarms and
saddens us that Nigeria and Nigerians are arming and being armed at alarming level following intensification and
entrenchment of anti people and anti democratic policies and conducts by the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. From various recent scholarly and
advocacy studies, Nigeria may mostly have become the world’s second most
illicitly armed country after Afghanistan. The battered Republic of Afghanistan
with January 2016 estimated population of 33million people is the world’s most
illicitly armed country with 10million small arms and light weapons to its
homicidal credit, on average of one illicit small arm and light weapon for
every four Afghans.
It is credibly
estimated that there are 4million-4.5million mostly illicit small arms
and light weapons (SALWs) presently in circulation in Nigeria or over 400%
spiral increase from estimated one million illicit SALWs in the country in
2000/2001. This simply means that out of
every 45 Nigerians (using the country’s estimated 174million citizens); there
is small arm and light weapon or SALW. While at least two million SALWs are
believed to be in the hands of non-combatant civilians in Nigeria, one million
may be in the hands of proliferated communal and States’ armed vigilante groups
across the country. The remaining 1million-1.5million others may be in
possession of violent non-State actor entities like the Fulani Janjaweed,
northern politicians-oiled Boko Haram, Niger Delta Militants, violent
politicians and die-hard street and syndicate criminal groups. These SALWs are
illicitly sold to Nigerians, who bear and operate them without legitimate
authorization by federal laws and authorities. Where laws of some States
recognize them as in the case of “militant vigilantism”, such laws are inferior
to federal laws and cannot stand the test of time.
The level of
militancy in Nigeria presently is alarming and deafening and it is shocking
that under the just 12 months of the Buhari administration, militancy and
homicidal rates have risen to an apogee. We terribly fear that if nothing
proactive and concrete is done to tame this genocidal trend, Nigeria may most
likely snowball into “complex humanitarian emergencies”.
For clear
understanding, complex humanitarian emergencies are earth-shaking social
crisis that envelopes a political territory in which a large number of people
are killed or die and suffer from war, disease, hunger and displacement owing
to man-made disasters or afflictions. In complex humanitarian emergencies
afflicting a large country like Nigeria with estimated 174million citizens,
humanitarian crises so generated, will be far beyond the capacities of the UN
and other humanitarian agencies. Complex humanitarian emergencies start from
early warning to uncontrollable crisis stages and are fueled by proxy arming
and proxy wars as well as “profiteers of violence” such as SALWs manufacturers
and marketers from the G8 Countries and China and their local collaborators.
It is also
estimated that over 25million bullets and cartridges of various models and
types, using in powering the estimated 4million-4.5million SALWs in the
country; are in circulation, on average of 5 cartridges per SALW. Other than
credible independent and scholarly statistics on these SALWs and their
propellers; official accounts from Nigeria’s securitization statistical records
of the Nigeria Police Force or the National Bureau of Statistics are
fundamentally unreliable, if not non-existent.
The recent
account by the Presidential Committee on Small Arms to the effect that “60%
of Small Arms & Light Weapons in Nigeria are locally manufactured” is
fundamentally contentious, unscientific, unreliable and unverifiable. The
stark reality is that 98% of small arms and light weapons in roguish and
credible circulation in Nigeria are imported; and under licit and illicit
circumstances. There are alarming licit and illicit arming going on
in the country under the malfunctioning watch of the Buhari administration.
That is to say that there is arming at dangerous speeds by State-actor and
non-State actor entities in the country. In the area of State actor
arming, the Federal Government through its Defense, Interior and NSA
establishments; is arming the State at a dangerous speed.
The porosity of
the State management of its armories and discriminatory enforcement of
gun-control policies in Nigeria is also alarming; most especially whereby
belligerent members of some ethnic nationalities like “Hausa-Fulani” found
bearing automatic assault weapons without license are treated as untouchables
while citizens of other ethnic nationalities like Igbo Ethnic Nationality who
hardly bear single barreled guns under non-street crime circumstances, not to
talk of assault rifles; are indiscriminately targeted and mass-murdered by the
security agencies.
Another
time-bomb speedily heading for explosion is the alarming rate of sub-State
actor arming in Nigeria. The referenced sub-State actor or sub-national entity
actor arming is undertaken by various States for the purpose of their “militant
vigilantism” activities and other illicit political purposes. At the level of
alarming non-State actor arming, there are civilian licit arming and civilian illicit
arming; intra and inter communal illicit arming; and inter-tribal and
inter-religious illicit arming as well as non-State actor armed groups and
political actors’ arming. Both State actor and non-State actor procured
arms (licit and illicit) in Nigeria are dominated by small arms and light weapons.
Licit State trade in small arms and light weapons is carried out between Nigeria
and a number of world’s leading manufacturers of small arms and light weapons
such as USA, China, Russia, UK, Canada, France, Germany and EU. This is
facilitated through Nigeria’s international waters and aviations (as case may
be). The Nigeria’s State arms trade is conducted through its ministries of
defense and interior and the office of the National Security Adviser.
Illicit arms
trade, on the other hand, is carried out using
Nigeria’s southern and northern borders and such arms are commonly found in
leading markets located in Lagos, Maiduguri, Kano, Onitsha and Aba. The
cross-border sources of these small arms and light weapons are traced to two
categories of sources of northern and southern destinations. While small
arms dominate the southern destinations of Togo, Benin Republic, Ghana,
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast; both small arms and light weapons
are illicitly couriered in large quantity from northern destinations of Chad,
Niger and Cameroon Republics; partly sourced from Libya, Somalia and Sudan.
All the illicit
small arms and light weapons (SALWs) produced by the named developed
countries found their way into Nigeria through third party or proxy means
facilitated by the producer-countries. Some of them landed into Nigeria through
their first country of use (i.e. Libya, Somalia, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra
Leone, Sudan, etc), while others landed directly from their virgin sources or
countries of production (i.e. SALWs in the hands of Niger Delta militants,
disbanded Nigeria’s Boko Haram, etc); yet some originate from State armories
(i.e. SALWs in the hands of Fulani Janjaweed).
It is also very
important to point out that the Republic of South Africa still parades the
largest number of private military corporations or firms on African Continent;
specializing in cross-border trading of mercenaries and sales agents for western
countries’ bound illicit small arms and light weapons (SALWs) shipped and sold
in Africa under “musketeers” (producers) and “profiteers” (marketers)
arrangements. The two referenced parties are commonly referred to as
“profiteers of violence”. South Africa is also the only African country to have
possessed a nuclear weapon in the 80s and the first country on earth to disband
same in early 90s.
In all,
Government to Government trade in small arms and light weapons (SALWs) are
classified as “licit arms trade”, while sale and shipment of same through
illegal means are classified as “illicit arms trade”. Such arms can also be
purchased illicitly or illegally and used licitly or legally. In the world
over, a set of laws governing the use of arms, particularly small arms are
classified under “mala prohibita” (laws with different contents and applications
in different countries and cultures). This further means that while it is
legally permissible for non-combatant citizens to carry certain weapons in a
country like USA, it is legally forbidden to do so in another country like
Nigeria. State to State trade in small arms and light weapons (SALWs) as well
as their use is governed or regulated through sub-regional, regional and
international treaties and customary international laws.
In Nigeria,
procurement and use of small arms and light weapons at communal,
inter-communal, tribal, inter-tribal, religious, inter-religious and group and
inter-group levels (except for State sanctioned security purposes) are
prohibited. At individual or private citizen’s level, procurement and use of
high profile small arms and all categories of light weapons are inexcusably
prohibited by law. But procurement and use of low profile small arms are
allowed under license by relevant authorities of the Nigerian Security
Agencies.
This is governed
by the Firearms Arms Act of 2004. The Act categorizes bearable small arms into prohibited
firearms and personal firearms. Any citizen can bear “personal
firearms” (i.e. single or double barreled guns, pistols, pump action guns, etc)
provided he or she is issued with a renewable license by the Inspector General
of Police or through his or her principal subordinate. This is contained in
Section 4 of the Act. The procurement and use of “prohibited firearms” (i.e.
assault weapons such as A-K 47 guns, machine guns etc) by a citizen is
conditioned to a presidential license. This is also contained in Section 3 of
the Firearms Act of 2004. For war-like or anti-violent crimes control small
arms and light weapons, the State security agencies are empowered by law to
deploy them when necessary and under strict regulations. But in practice, these
are observed in gross breach by concerned security establishments particularly
the Nigeria Police Force.
For purpose of
clear understanding, small arms and light weapons are
weapons that can be carried by a single person, either for military or civilian
use. They are commonly referred to as “SALWs” and are relatively cheap,
available in abundance, highly portable, long lasting and easy to carry or
operate. They range from pistols, assault rifles, machine guns, grenades,
mortars to anti tank systems. By light weapons, they are referred to
as weapons that are man-portable or transportable by light vehicles and that do
not require much in terms of service and logistical back-up training. They
comprise small caliber canons, light support weapons, combat grenades, anti-personnel
mines, mortars, anti-tank weapons, anti-tank mines, etc.
Signed:
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman
Mobile Line: +2348174090052
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Barr Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Head, Civil Liberties &
Rule of Law Program
Mobile Line: +2348034186332
Barr Chinwe Umeche, Head, Democracy & Good
Governance Program
Mobile Line: +2347013238673
Website: www.intersociety-ng.org
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