Governor Samuel Ortom has insisted that Nigerians need to be licensed to bear AK-47 rifles for self-protection and defense, considering the intransigent general insecurity in the country.
The Benue State governor who insisted that his advice was harmless, dismissed the suggestion that he was calling for anarchy but maintained that Nigerians need to bear their own arms for self-protection and defence.
Ortom reiterated his earlier suggestion that Nigerians should be allowed to carry AK-47 rifles due to the security challenges faced in most parts of the country.
The governor repeated this his point of view while addressing journalists in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja over the weekend.
His words:“I am not a security expert but as governor I receive briefings and I was able to do my independent investigation and knew that these people (armed herdsmen/bandits) are coming for an agenda. Nigerians must wake up. If we don’t wake up we will all be consumed.
“I heard people complaining that Ortom called for Nigerians to be allowed to carry sophisticated weapons and that it would bring about anarchy.
“What about the Fulani herdsmen who are carrying AK-47 rifles and kidnapping innocent Nigerians, raping our women and destroying our villages and towns and becoming a terror to us.
“How about them? Why can’t we collect these sophisticated weapons from them? How many of them have been arrested?
“I am aware that some of them have been apprehended but majority of them are still there with these AK-47.
“This is a suggestion that the federal government should take up seriously because in America people are licensed to carry sophisticated weapons but life is still going on.
“It is left for the federal government to look at it if my suggestion can be carried but for me, I still stand with my suggestion.”
The Benue governor insisted that his suggestion was harmless, saying those trying to twist his comment, and alleging that he was calling for anarchy should rather question herdsmen and bandits who carry arms across the country.
He said:“My call was out of passion. I’m asking for an upgrade of the existing policy of gun licensing. Terrorists will caution themselves when they see that people are armed against them. We must as Nigerians find ways to stop these people.
”When the Fulani Jihadists came, they said they came to take over Nigeria. They came with an agenda. They came to impose religion, but people should be allowed to practice their religion in this country.”
He also said the Fulanis attacking Nigerians in the country are not from Nigeria, stressing that they are from neughbouring African countries.
Speaking on the community policing initiative, Governor Ortom said that the N13.5billion approved by the federal government for the exercise will assist in the training of local recruits.
His words:“This is a policy that all the north-central governors and the Inspector General of Police met some time ago and we jointly agreed that to augment the capacity and the strength of the Nigeria police, we need to do something that will arise from the community to support the police.
“So it is a policy that we engaged the rural people and government is told to find ways of giving them stipends but the police will train these recruits.
“Already we have done the recruitment from all the 276 wards in Benue state, so I think the next thing is for the training to take place.”
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