Govt arms, ammunition in terrorists’ hands stolen – Military

The military high command says no personnel of the Armed Forces of Nigeria facilitates the movement of arms and ammunition to the terrorists, bandits and other criminals terrorising the country.

It specifically said most of the arms found in the hands of non-state actors were usually carted away by the criminals when they attack formations of security agencies at their respective areas of responsibilities.

Edward Buba, the Director, Defence Media Operations, said this at Defence Headquarters, Abuja, during a press briefing, on Thursday.

He also attributed the availability of weapons primarily to the Libyan and Sahel crisis.

Daily Trust had reported how the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, while setting ablaze some decommissioned, unserviceable and recovered illicit arms, last week, said some security personnel facilitate guns for criminals.

Ribadu also rained curses on soldiers and policemen whom he said were the masterminds of making arms available for criminals wrecking havocs across the country.

But responding to a question about the allegations, Buba explained that the Libyan conflict and instability in the Sahel allowed free flow of arms into Nigeria.

This, he said, has exacerbated the country’s insurgency and terrorism crisis.

The senior military officer said, “To your question about the proliferation of arms within our country, and the allegation that some of those arms are from security forces. This is what I can tell you about it.

“When we talk about proliferation of arms, first you have to look at what happened in Libya years ago and in the Sahel. Now, this gave the opportunity for arms to get into the wrong hands and then filtered into our country, which worsened the issue of insurgency and terrorism that we are faced with in the country. That is one.

“Two, is from the textbook. The textbook tells you that part of the ways insurgents and terrorists get arms is to attack security forces and take arms from them. This is a textbook, meaning that it is proven all over the world.

“So, if it has happened here in Nigeria, it is not a surprise, as we have seen that several of our troops have been ambushed or killed and their arms taken away.”

He, however, said the military has consistently responded to such incidents with decisive counter-measures.

“But what we have done is that in every such instance, we have made the terrorists pay a greater price than we have been forced to pay in such circumstances,” he added.