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Ikenna Ngere
Guest
The Defence Headquarters has attributed the growing proliferation of arms in Nigeria to the ongoing conflicts in Libya and instability in the Sahel region.
According to the DHQ, the conflict has allowed weapons to flow across borders and exacerbate the country’s insurgency and terrorism issues.
Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, made this statement on Thursday in response to recent allegations by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu.
Naija News recalls that Ribadu had claimed that many illegal weapons used for criminal activities in Nigeria were originally from the country’s security forces, accusing some soldiers and police officers of selling weapons to criminal elements.
However, Buba refuted this, explaining that the widespread availability of arms was largely due to external factors, such as the Libyan and Sahel crises.
He stated, “To your question about the proliferation of arms within our country, and the allegation that some of those arms are from security forces. This is what I can tell you about it. When we talk about proliferation of arms, first you have to look at what happened in Libya years ago and in the Sahel.
“Now, this gave the opportunity for arms to get into the wrong hands and then filtered into our country, which worsened the issue of insurgency and terrorism that we were faced with in the country. That is one.”
Buba also highlighted that another source of arms for terrorists comes from attacks on security forces, where they seize weapons.
“Two, is from the textbook. The textbook tells you that part of the ways insurgents and terrorists get arms is to attack security forces and take arms from them.
“This is a textbook, meaning that it is proven all over the world. So if it has happened here in Nigeria, it is not a surprise, as we have seen that several of our troops have been ambushed or killed and their arms taken,” he added.
Despite these challenges, Buba reassured that the military has been taking strong countermeasures, ensuring that those responsible for such incidents face greater consequences.
“But what we have done is that in every such instance, we have made the terrorists pay a greater price than we have been forced to pay in such circumstances,” he said.
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