By

Musbahu Magayaki

The Zamfara State Government has officially directed the inhabited communities of the state to carry arms for self-defence as a result of the insurmountable bandit’s attack shattering the state, leading to the destruction of lives and personal possessions of the zone’s commoners.

This action, however, would add fuel to the sad development unfolding in the state and beyond by potentially making it unmanageable because everyone would have a gun to protect himself from these foreboding omens. This defensive stance would lead to an offensive.

The Zamfara State Government should therefore be conscious of the fact that the Ukraine war, which induced President Volodymyr Zelensky to ring up Ukrainian civilians to take up arms in defence of Russia’s invasion of their state capital of Kyiv, was the result of Russia’s military outmatching Ukraine’s on every level, implying that the Ukrainian military may not be able to withstand and deter a full-scale invasion.

Mexico should be a case of study as it became precedent in the past that was internally destabilized by its inner most citizens when they were constitutionally allowed to hold weapons for self-defense. As such, we need to be thoroughly observing the situations in those developed countries and be capable of identifying those areas where they erred so that we would avoid repeating what they did.

Despite the fact that Nigeria is one of the biggest African countries with military power, the one million dollar questions are; is our military capacity insufficient to strike back against these outlaws’ threat? Or are they not functioning effectively in undertaking this hazardous assignment? This action would seriously make the efforts of our brave military less appreciative as in reality they have been audaciously doing their best to safeguard our lives and properties day-in-day-out.

In a country like Nigeria, where breach of law has prevalently become the norm, what then can be expected to happen devastatingly if a citizen takes up arms? This is an improper decision that should be changed to a better option. What is the essence of creating various security units in the country if they cannot be utilised in a bid to defeat those terrorising the country?

Instead of coming up with this irrational idea, why not engage the state vigilantes and empower them with advanced sophisticated weaponry and train them with military tactics to strengthen our military capacity? Zamfara State government should, head over heels, request support from the Federal Government in employing more civilians for this vigilante unit in different angles of the state to fight these law violators.

Simply put, the Zamfara State Government has shown its ineptitude in the fight against terrorism.

Nonetheless, Maiduguri, in the northern part of the country, has faced more challenges from Boko Haram militias than Zamfara State, but its governor has never come up with the inappropriate notion of state dwellers carrying arms.

Magayaki wrote from Sabon Fegi, Azare. Musbahumuhammad258@gmail.com