BLUF
Above all, some Nigerians are worried that while the country is experiencing unprecedented security problems of unimaginable and embarrassing proportion, the authorities appear not to be interested in taking the pains to remove these obvious barriers and educate the people about their right to bear arms self-defence from armed criminals who come to kill, maim, steal and destroy their properties.
Self-defence bombshell: Many Nigerians agree with Danjuma, differ on source of arms
This week, Nigeria’s fragile state of security once again became an issue on the front burner of public discourse, triggered by the frank call of a former Army Chief and Minister of Defence, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma (rtd), wherein he advocated that his people of Taraba state adopt self-defence in the wake of serial massacres.
The elder statesman had spoken last weekend in the Wukari area of the state, where Governor Darius Ishaku, at a massive social gathering, presented the staff of office to His Royal Majesty Manu Ishaku Adda Ali, the 25th Aku Uka.
The occasion was not the first time TY Danjuma would unabashedly make a categorical statement on the weaknesses of the country’s security architecture.
In fact, in 2018, when he first came out to persuade Nigerians to embrace self-defense as an effective panacea to the nation’s security challenges, he even accused the military of not being a neutral force.
Though Danjuma, in Wukari, knocked the military afresh for living in denial over the country’s aggravating security challenges, what has really compelled urgent, but critical introspection was his advice for ordinary citizens to source for arms and ammunition in the same way and manner the criminals terrorising their communities were mobilising their own lethal weapons.
Danjuma’s words
The octogenarian said, “Our country is under siege by armed bandits, all over the country. Some few years ago, I warned that the Armed Forces are either not capable or unwilling to protect us and that we must defend ourselves.
“The first denial of what I said came from the Ministry of Defence. They said I was lying and they set up a kangaroo Board of Inquiry to investigate the truth or otherwise of what I said and they invited me to come and testify, I did not go.
“They wrote their report, which said that I was only speculating, that there was no evidence. And now there is evidence; the whole country now is being run and overrun.
“Right now, we are all sitting ducks, these people are armed to the teeth with all weapons of mass destruction and we don’t have them but we have the numbers and the land belongs to us. They are trying to recolonise us and take over our land. Can I allow you to defend yourselves?” he asked the crowd who chanted a loud ‘Yes!’ in unison.
Danjuma continued, “They said I told them to defend themselves, I didn’t give them arms. I will not give you arms, find out how these people got arms. Use the same means to defend yourselves.