The Presidency, on Thursday, released a video where President Muhammadu Buhari was giving orders to security agents to shoot on sight, any civilian seen with an AK-47 rifle.
On March 3, 2020, the Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said that his employer has given specific orders to military commanders to shoot any civilian bearing AK-47 rifle.
Some Nigerians including Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, had commended Buhari for the order, orders like the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ndume Elumelu, said the President should have handed down the order himself.
In the 14-second video clip that showed President Buhari issuing the order, the President said, “Anybody with AK-47 should be shot because AK-47 is supposed to be registered and it is only given to security officials.”
In recent times, there have been serious concerns over the activities of some herders brandishing AK-47 and terrorizing some parts of the country, especially the South-West zone.
The Benue State governor and his Bauchi State counterpart, Bala Mohammed, had clashed recently on whether herders should wield AK-47 or not. Mohammed had said the herders use the rifles for self-defense while Ortom disagreed that the herders use the weapons to wreak havoc on host communities. The two governors of the Peoples Democratic Party, however, resolved the issue and embraced peace.
