Elections: Govs, Other Politicians Stockpiling Ammunition- NATFORCE
AHEAD of next month’s Presidential election, the Director General of National Taskforce on Small Arms, Light and Chemical Weapons ( NATFORCE), Dr Emmanuel Okereke, Tuesday raised the alarm that some state governors and other politicians across the country were stockpiling arms and ammunition that would be used to cause mayhem.
Briefing Journalists in Abuja, the NATFORCE boss who alleged that the stockpiling of ammunition by those he described as desperate political players ahead of the elections, was facilitated by the porous nature of the country’s border and non-existence of a specific body or commission, to tackle the menace.
He said, “Due to lack of a legally established specific body or commission as obtainable in 14 out of the 16 countries in the West African Sub region ,all manner of ammunitions have been illegally brought into the country ahead of the coming elections by high class political players including some state governors.”
Speaking further, he advised that for Nigeria to effectively tackle the menace of proliferation of ammunitions in the country with its attendant crimes , a National Commission for the Prohibition of Illegal importation of Small Arms, Ammunition and Light Weapons and other related matters, must be established as already done by other west African countries except Nigeria and Gambia.
According to him, the Commission was recommended for all West African Countries through a resolution passed to that effect by the Economic Community of West Africa States ( ECOWAS) in December 2017, just as he lamented, saying, “Unfortunately , while 14 out of the 16 member sub regional body have complied , Nigeria and Gambia are yet to do the needful in that direction.”
The Director General explained that even before the ECOWAS ‘s resolution , a bill for the establishment of such commission has long been sponsored by his outfit called National Taskforce .
The bill which is currently in the 8th Senate has passed second reading in the House of Representatives, but not yet in the senate, having earlier failed to scale through the required legislative processes in the 6th and 7th National Assembly.
According to him, the Commission when established would not be a burden on the finances of the country but rather be a revenue generating one, just as he called on the Senate as it resumes plenary to fast track legislative business on the bill for the commission to be in place as soon as possible.
