CONFIRMING what many a Nigerian has always suspected, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, disclosed last week that a “sizeable number of illicit arms being used to commit crimes in the country belong to the government,” stating that they “were being transferred to terrorists, bandits and other non-state actors by security agents.” This grave disclosure of treachery by security agents was made by the NSA during the arms destruction exercise organised by the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) in Abuja. He condemned the unpatriotic conduct of aberrant security agents, threatening that anyone caught going forward would regret their actions. The NSA’s plan to be decisive in dealing with security saboteurs from now on may be reassuring but it also raises a question regarding what happened to those who were caught before now. Were they treated with gloves and did they go scot-free? Or could it be that none of those involved in the alleged massive transfer of the state’s lethal weapons to the enemies of the state has been apprehended?
It is the duty of the NSA and his security team to arrest the lawbreakers and ensure that they are diligently prosecuted and eventually punished to serve as a deterrent to other perfidious public officials. Rather than just confirming to Nigerians that the security services are plagued with certain insidious officials who are arming criminals to attack the state and the citizenry, the NSA should have given updates on those being prosecuted. Merely informing Nigerians that certain saboteurs in the military are selling arms to terrorists does not present a picture of seriousness on the government’s part. It often turns out that the information the public officials give is rather useless. For instance, during the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, the immediate past Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN), said the government had identified about 400 financiers of terror, but nothing was heard afterwards. There has been no information about the apprehension, prosecution and punishment of the criminals. Is this how the country is going to continue? The few Boko Haram terrorists arrested were said to have repented and are reportedly being taken care of at the behest of the state, even as their victims and/or the families of the victims are still reeling in the pains of their physical, psychological and economic losses.
What really does the NSA want Nigerians to do with the information that weapons in the state armouries are being transferred to criminals and violent non-state actors? Is it not the call of the leadership of the security agencies to ensure that their officers and men are well-trained, mentored and supervised so that they act within the ambit of the law at all times? Are the security agents not aware of the importance and sensitivity of their mandate and calling where the probability of their loyalty to the state must be one, and not less? For instance, do they realise that it is treason to steal and supply arms belonging to the state to terrorists and bandits who ultimately use the same arms against the state and its citizens? Do the leaders and the supervisory officers at various levels of the services feel any sense of guilt that this monumental rot that potentially undermines and compromises the sovereignty of the state exists under their watch?
The kind of indiscipline or lawlessness that makes security agents to literally loot military armouries and hand over the contents to criminals deserves to be painstakingly examined. It is important to know the motivation for such acts of egregious disloyalty and rebellion. Is it just about love for filthy lucre and/or warped ideological underpinning? These security agents certainly endanger the peace and lives of their colleagues and other citizens. Whatever the motivations are, the state should not only punish the culprits as the NSA has threatened, it should also take potent steps to stymie the perilous tendency. Security officials who engage in the gun-running business constitute a veritable danger to democracy. Their illegal and unbridled access to the armouries if not checked, could inevitably result in anarchy. Saboteurs stealing weapons from the armouries with impunity may at some point begin to push for a possible regime change. This argument may seem overstretched but it is not far-fetched. In any case, it is better to begin to view the sabotage underlying the transfer of official weapons to criminals in this grave context in order to appreciate the enormity of the challenge and the significance of stamping it out urgently and decisively.
It is time the armed services began to pay strict attention to the quality of personnel they recruit. We urge that the recruitment into the various security agencies be further standardised with stringent requirements for high standards of character and conduct from intakes, in addition to physical fitness. At the moment, the recruitment process seems to be faulty. Yes, officers and men recruited into the military are products of the larger society where moral decadence has continued to fester, but the military which embodies regimental services cannot afford to brook any form of indiscipline. It must always strive to recruit the most physically fit and morally upright candidates into the services. The services need officers and men that are disciplined and willing to act within the precincts of the law and service codes, not those who will buckle under the pressure of the inordinate quest for monetary gain and/or warped ideology to open the armouries of their services to criminals.
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