The governor had asked the people of the state to arm themselves and defend themselves from bandits, while he instructed the Commissioner of Police to issue arm licenses to individuals when they apply for it.
The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor, has said that the Zamfara State Governor, Bello Matawalle and the state Commissioner of Police do not have the powers to ask citizens of the state to start bearing arms to defend themselves against the ravaging bandits.
Irabor made this known while speaking to journalists in Abuja at the opening of the Joint Exercise for the National Defence College and War Colleges of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, captioned “Exercise Grand Nationale.”
SaharaReporters on Sunday reported that following the rising cases of the activities of bandits, the governor asked the people of the state to arm themselves and defend themselves from bandits, while he instructed the Commissioner of Police to issue arm licenses to individuals when they apply for it.
But speaking on Monday, the defence chief said, “I believe that, in my view, it is not the right way to go. Of course, there are actions that members of the security agencies and the armed forces, in particular, the police and other security agencies, are doing to address insecurity in Zamfara and environs.
“Beyond that, of course, there are other legal issues, other issues of governance, issues that the government could have addressed using the instrumentality of the law that are available for him to bring greater peace and security.
“But like I said, I do not intend to say much about it, but I believe that the Federal Government, using the Attorney General, will look at the details of that press release and give further instruction.
“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 licenses, because the commissioner of police does not have the powers to issue licenses.
“I believe that what we are doing in Zamfara and of course, across the states of the federation, is in deference to the provisions of the constitution.
“So, we are there because we are there to give support to the civil authority, in this case, the police. We do not need to restate what the issues are that have led to the deployment of military across the country but then, like I said, we are doing the very best to ensure that peace returns to every part of the country.”