CDS faults Zamfara’s self-defence order, govt adamant

The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, on Monday, faulted the Zamfara State Government over its directive to residents of the state to bear arms to defend themselves against terrorists.

Irabor said he was yet to understand the rationale behind such a wrong call.

The CDS spoke at the opening of the Joint Exercise for the National Defence College and War Colleges of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, code named “Exercise Grand Nationale,” in Abuja.

 “I believe that, in my view, it is not the right way to go,” he said.

While saying the Federal Government, through the Attorney General, will look at the details of the position of the Zamfara State Government, Irabor added, “If what I read is true, I do not also think that the governor has the power to instruct the commissioner of police to issue licences, because the Commissioner of Police does not have the powers to issue licences.”

 Meanwhile, the Zamfara State Government has insisted that self-defence remains the best option to address the issue of insecurity in the state.

The state Commissioner for Information, Ibrahim Dosara, spoke while featuring on Sunrise Daily, a current affairs programme on Channels Television on Monday.

Dosara said, “We are planning to give position to people to protect themselves because it is allowed in a situation of war like ours.

“We have five local governments where these issues are deteriorating and it is the reason why we said ok, since we have tried so many ways to improve the security which is being sabotaged by conflict entrepreneurs, the best thing now is to allow people to defend themselves, especially on their farms because it is the rainy season and the people need to go back to provide food for their families and the government has been doing everything to ensure that it secure lives of the people and their property. “