Daily Trust Editorial, Tuesday April 29, 2025
In recent times, prominent Nigerians, including retired generals and senior government officials, have called on citizens to arm themselves in the face of rising insecurity. This disturbing trend signals more than just fear; it is an outright vote of no confidence in Nigeria’s security architecture.
In 2018, General Theophilus Danjuma, a former Chief of Army Staff, openly warned Nigerians to defend themselves. “The armed forces are not neutral,” he said at a forum in Jalingo, Taraba State. “They collude with armed bandits to kill Nigerians. You must rise and defend yourselves. Otherwise, you will all die,” he had said.
Again, in 2022 Danjuma reiterated, “We are under siege. Nigerians must not sit idly; self-defence is no longer an option but a necessity.”
Most recently, General Danjuma declared, “If government security cannot protect us, we must protect ourselves. Nigeria is on the brink.”
Other prominent figures have echoed similar sentiments. General Bashir Magashi (rtd.), Nigeria’s former Minister of Defence, once stated, “It is the responsibility of everybody to be alert and defend themselves. If you are armed, defend yourself.” Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, who survived an assassination attempt in 2021, has consistently advocated for citizens to bear arms legally for self-defence. “We can’t continue like this; our people must be empowered to defend themselves,” Ortom stressed.
Even the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), during a 2024 national security summit, remarked, “Citizens must take ownership of their own security; government alone cannot guarantee protection.”
When very important personalities, many with rich military and security backgrounds, consistently call on citizens to arm themselves, it is more than a casual suggestion. It is a damning indictment of the government’s failure to protect its people. It also highlights the collapse of confidence in the nation’s security agencies.
This situation should serve as a wake-up call to President Bola Tinubu and his administration. If individuals who once held the levers of military and state security no longer believe in the system, then ordinary Nigerians have even more reason to feel abandoned. The government must realise that these calls are not made lightly but are desperate cries borne out of Nigeria’s deteriorating security environment.
The call for self-defence, however, is a slippery slope. Encouraging citizens to arm themselves will inevitably lead to the uncontrolled proliferation of arms. Once this Pandora’s Box is opened, it will be nearly impossible to shut. In a country already grappling with the illicit flow of weapons, such a development would only accelerate the descent into anarchy.
We must also remember the example of the United States, where despite strict regulations, gun violence continues to claim thousands of lives annually. Even individuals legally licensed to carry firearms often misuse them.
Nigeria, with its fragile institutions and ethnic tensions, would fare far worse if guns became commonplace among civilians.
The spate of insecurity in Nigeria, from Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorism, cattle rustling, banditry, herder-farmer clashes, secessionist agitations in the South East, to oil theft and militancy in the South-South is a clear reflection of a security architecture that is stretched to its breaking point. Worse still, new non-state actors like Mahmuda, are emerging, adding further layers of complexity to an already chaotic situation.
But these groups cannot be contained by simply asking citizens to arm themselves.
A 2020 update by the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) put the figure of illegal arms in circulation at over eight million; and this number has likely increased given the escalating insecurity, arms smuggling and local weapon fabrication across the country.
Already, Nigeria’s over 4,000-kilometre porous land borders with neighbouring countries like Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin is making the influx of illegal weapons a tea party as terrorist groups receive them with ease. We should not legalise what we cannot hold someone accountable.
Clearly, Nigeria needs a new security architecture, one that restores citizens’ faith in the state’s ability to protect them without requiring them to resort to self-help. Rather than encouraging everyone to bear arms, we must strengthen communal security frameworks. Vigilante groups, community policing and neighbourhood watch initiatives that are properly regulated and supervised could provide immediate relief while larger systemic reforms are undertaken.
Moreover, the federal government must urgently recruit more security personnel. With a population of over 220 million people, Nigeria’s police and military forces are grossly inadequate to meet the security demands across the country. Investing in manpower, equipment, intelligence and training must become a national priority.
Equally important is the accountability of state governors. As the chief security officers of their respective states, they must be held responsible for any breakdown of law and order. Hiding behind the excuse of centralised policing is no longer acceptable.
Finally, Nigeria must call a spade a spade. The dangerous trend of giving criminal activities ethnic and religious colouration only worsens the situation. Criminals must be treated as criminals, nothing more and nothing less.
