“My point is, people cannot be slaughtered in their houses helplessly. Maybe what we need to do is to liberalise gun control. Let everybody own a gun so that when you are coming to my house, you will know that I have my own gun while you are coming with yours,” a senator. Kabir Marafa, said on Tuesday.
Mr Marafa, who represents Zamfara Central Senatorial District, was clearly angered by not just the killings across the country but also the defenseless state of the victims. His Zamfara State has witnessed hundreds of killings by armed bandits in 2018. Several houses and properties were also burnt and destroyed by the criminals during the attacks.
On Tuesday, while contributing to a debate at the Senate on the insecurity across Nigeria, the senator called for legalisation of guns and firearms to enable citizens defend themselves.
He said he believed that the only advantage the criminals have over their victims is the guns and weapons they carry.
Mr Marafa had at several times decried the killings across the country, especially in Zamfara State on the floor of the Senate and called for the intervention of the federal government in crisis-affected areas of the state.
He has openly accused the state governor, Abdul’aziz Yari, of playing politics and blame game with the incessant killings in the state.
What Led To Call
Prior to Mr Marafa’s call for liberalisation of gun control, former governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, raised a point of order on the killings in the state.
Mr Jang called on the federal government to take proactive measures to prevent more killings.
His point of order went on smoothly as many lawmakers in the upper chamber took turns to condemn the attacks and seek protective measures for people of the state.
Among the many contributors was Isa Misau (APC, Bauchi Central) who blamed the happenings on the incompetence of security agencies as well as the executive arm of government.
Mr Misau expressed disappointment at President Muhammadu Buhari for his continuous refusal to sack “incompetent people” in authoritative positions. He said the president is paying more attention to corruption than to injustice.
Mr Marafa, thereafter, stood up and expressed disappointment at Nigerians who judge the killings based on religion.
He said religious leaders who are giving the killings a religious colouration, are hypocrites.
“Plateau State is predominantly a Christian state, so if people are killed in Plateau, Christians will be killed. But we sit down and say ‘Christians are being eliminated’, ‘it is genocide’ and so on. This is hypocrisy! We ought to give this thing the name it deserves.
“There are killings in Zamfara and those arrested are not all foreigners or Fulanis. I make bold to say that the killings in Plateau State are happening in conjunction with indigenes of that state because it is a business. But every day, we either give it an ethnic or religious colouration without minding the fact that these things are being done and we are the losers.
“The Christian and Muslim clerics that are giving these killings a religious colouration are all hypocrites because we all know where they belong to. It is not limited to one religion but at the end of the day, the problem remains,” he said.
He then described the attacks as “a grand agenda by other lawmakers that want state police.”
His accusation was followed by noise and rowdiness as lawmakers protested and asked him to withdraw his statement.
Mr Marafa withdrew his accusation, and then called for the legalisation of guns for citizens.
“My point is, people cannot be slaughtered in their houses helplessly. Maybe what we need to do is to liberalise gun control,” he said.
How Other Lawmakers Reacted
Although his call for liberalisation of guns led to more chaos in the chamber, Mr Marafa was, however, unconcerned and appeared satisfied having made his point.
Some lawmakers protested in the background but no one stood to either condemn or support Mr Marafa’s statement on gun liberalisation.
After a while, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, simply called the Senate to order, condemned the attacks and then resolutions were made – among which was the creation of state police.
Nigerians React
There have been mixed reactions to the lawmaker’s call. While some people think it is a good call, others, however, do not see it as a way of curbing insecurity in the country.
Francis Enobore, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Prison Service, strongly disagreed with the senator.
Using prison officers as example, he said it will increase dangers in prisons which can lead to the breach of security in prisons.
“As a prison officer, I don’t think I will agree with that opinion. Given the nature of our prison facilities, I don’t know how safe it will be for every prison officer to bare guns even though you are within the prison yard.
“The idea of giving guns to some prison personnel, came as a result of external invaders who broke in and set some prisoners free because in the past, when students or any group of persons, are demonstrating or have different opinion from the government, what they resolve to is invade the prison, set prisoners free and so on.
“Even the guns that we get is to ward off external invaders and on rare occasions where you have internal disturbance. So no, I won’t support that,” he said.
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