The proliferation of arms in the South-East has led to an increase in violent crimes such as kidnappings, armed robbery, killings, cultism, and several others. Despite recoveries made by security agencies, this menace has continued to elicit worries among agitated residents, just as stakeholders are calling for swift action to stem the tide, LAWRENCE NJOKU reports.

When the Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Mr Kanayo Uzuegbu, on May 3, this year, paraded 195 suspected criminals, he displayed 68 assorted guns and rifles recovered from them.

A breakdown of the recovered firearms and ammunition showed that there were 10 AK-47 rifles; one sub-machine gun, and 57 locally fabricated guns; 67 live ammunition of different calibres, as well as 78 live cartridges.The arrests were made from March 8 to April 10, 2024.

In Anambra State, the police recovered 15 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDS); 14 Ak-47 rifles; locally fabricated rocket launchers; machine guns, and various rounds of ammunition among other devices.

In the same month, over 300 arrests were made, including those related to cult issues. The immediate past Commissioner of Police in the state, Aderemi Adeoye, in March this year, shortly after the command recovered a loaded Ak-47 rifle with double magazines containing 50 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, as well as IEDs, deplored the ease with which criminals parade heavy weaponry.

He further noted that part of the fresh challenge in crime fighting in the state was that criminals now set targets ablaze by throwing IEDs into them. In Imo State, a total of 48 different firearms and 552 rounds of live ammunition were recovered in the course of operations in March and April this year.

According to the command’s spokesperson, Okoye Ifeanyi, an assistant superintendent of police (ASP), these recoveries include locally made guns, single barrel guns, and short guns among others, adding that of the 435 suspected criminals arrested within the period, 13 among them were suspected kidnappers.

Giving an account of arrests made between February and March this year in the state and arms recovered, the Commissioner of Police, Kenechukwu Onwumelie, said over 100 suspects were arrested and arms recovered include 23 locally made single-barreled shotguns; eight locally-made double-barreled shotguns; 37 live cartridges; two pistols, one dane gun, and one toy gun.

In Ebonyi State, an unspecified number of guns and various rounds of live ammunition have also been recovered. In one of the recoveries made in March this year, a bag containing two thousand rounds of live ammunition was recovered from a criminal hideout in the state.

Indeed, there had not been a parade of suspected criminals in any part of the South East without the display of arms and ammunition recovered from them, which are either used in dispossessing innocent persons of their possession, maiming, or killing them.

While some of these arms that are in circulation are fabricated locally, others are either snatched from security officials after attacks on their stations or after being killed by men of the underworld.

The worry now is that while security officials have continued to recover these arms and destroy them, more are still being circulated in the region thereby putting many lives and businesses in danger.

The Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Okechukwu Nwanguma, told The Guardian that even though there may not be any credible information or current statistics on the number of locally fabricated guns in circulation in the South-East, the rising level of crime is an indication of the number of illegal arms in circulation.

He, however, added: “Gun ownership is illegal in Nigeria except for approved security agencies. This makes it difficult to determine the exact number of firearms in circulation, including those that are locally fabricated. It is a known fact that illegal firearms, including locally fabricated guns, contribute significantly to insecurity in Nigeria, and there have been calls for the government to take stronger action to curb their circulation and use.”

Part 11 of the Firearm Control Act 2004, prohibits the bearing of arms without certification, or permission. It stipulates: “No person shall have in his possession, or under his control any firearm of one of the categories specified in Part 1 of the schedule to this act (in this Act referred to as a “prohibited firearm”) excerpt in accordance with a license granted by the president acting in his discretion.”

When they swooped on an illegal weapon factory in Okija, Anambra State, late last year, the Joint Security Taskforce had made several recoveries of locally manufactured guns waiting to be claimed by their owners. The operator of the factory had, however, escaped abandoning his wares.

The Assistant Commissioner of Police in Enugu, Onyeamu Akame, while expressing dismay over the proliferation of illegal arms in the region, cautioned politicians to desist from arming the youths to execute elections and other illegal assignments

Akame, who spoke at a one-day seminar recently, themed: “Multisectoral Synergy Towards the Control of Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Nigeria,” insisted that the level of unauthorised weapons circulating in the South-East region was not good for the development and growth of the area.

At the seminar also, Southeast Zonal Commander, National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), Major Gen Okechukwu Ugo (retd) stated that his agency had in the last three years recovered and destroyed over 6,000 illicit and obsolete small and light weapons from various security agencies and operational theaters in the country.

Although he could not in specific terms state the number of weapons so far recovered from the region, he however, added: “ If I tell you the number of recoveries that we have made in the region through the support of security agencies, it will shock you.

“It is important to mention that these weapons do not cause conflict on their own. Rather, it is the easy access to them and the recklessness of their uses that make violence more lethal and conflicts more protracted. Small and light weapons have become weapons of choice for criminals, especially in the wake of many crises that have engulfed our geopolitical zone,” he said.

But the General Officer Commanding the 82 Division, Nigerian Army Enugu, Gen. Hassan Dada, stated that the situation was “alarming,” stressing that there was a need for the cooperation of relevant agencies to eradicate the spread of illicit arms in the region. He pointed out that insecurity would have been solved if illicit weapons were taken away from the various streets, stressing that there was a need for the cooperation of relevant agencies to eradicate the spread of illicit arms in society.

A security consultant, Dr Reginald Isiguzo, told The Guardian that the increasing wave of agitations, activities of unknown gunmen, local manufacturers who fabricate equipment; inability to maintain reliable data on locations of the manufacturers, and weak regulations were encouraging the proliferation of arms in the region.

Isiguzo added that the South-East has several local fabricators who are capitalising on the poor economic situation to turn to arms dealing, and producing, adding that the government must strive to discourage it.

“The growing arms business is due to its lucrative nature. Those buying the guns are buying them because they would make money by using them. As such, they are ready to patronise the local manufacturers who are willing to do business anytime that they are called upon. The government should also prove to them that it can be trusted at all times to enable the people to stop the trend. If security forces can show that they can protect the environment, the quest to acquire weapons illegally will no longer be there. We need to take control of the ungoverned spaces to reassure the citizens that they are protected,” he stated.

A Professor of International Law and Global Politics, Prof. Jehu Onyekwere, while agreeing with Isiguzo, alleged that locally made guns have become so widespread and almost used extensively “by greater than half of the population of members of the society in the South-East.”

According to him, “Most of these gun handlers are non-state actors, who either have been in the employ of some form of security outfits, hunters or vigilante groups. Now, because there is a strict formality in licensing and authorising individuals to become legitimate gun owners vis-a-vis the mounting security problem that has bedeviled the already quasi-moribund lifestyle of persons in the South-East of Nigeria, some persons have resorted to self-help in outright disregard of constitutional provisions.”

Onyekwere continued: “The new reality of incessant herdsmen attacks and the bandits cum terrorist insurgence and resurgence in this region makes it difficult to know where to draw the line between legality and self-defense since the government together with its institutional outreach, which ought to stymie this menace of insecurity seems to be overwhelmed,” adding that “some persons have felt that giving a hypothetical ‘fight or flee’ scenario that the better alternative will be the former.”

He posited further: “The presence of small arms and light weapons, which has become endemic not only in the South-East, but prevalent in other regions should be a wakeup call to the political leaders to quickly fashion out a way to curb what I call a ‘security somersault,’ which will eventually become an ill wind that will blow nobody good if we allow the present condition to linger much longer, without bringing these arms bearers to a roundtable to ascertain whether they are doing so as aggrieved members of the society, or they are doing so as a means of protection and offer a solution to avoid an implosion.

“What I see is a region reeling from the wounds of the past, and something must be done urgently to assuage their pains and eliminate their cause for worry, or bring the actors together and proffer lasting solutions through political dialogue. It has to be a jaw-jaw situation and not a war-war approach.”

Also speaking, a rights advocate, Jonathan Okoro, pointed out that growing cult activities in the region have contributed to the spread of illegal arms, stressing that states such as Anambra and Imo are prone to rival cult clashes.

“These people openly brandish guns and other destructive weapons. They freely use their onset targets. You may begin to wonder how they get these things, and I can tell you that from our findings, they come from various parts of the country. Some of them come from as far as Jos, in Plateau State, Kaduna and what have you. These weapons are concealed inside other goods. Remember the interception recently by soldiers in Okija, Anambra.”

State of a truckload of weapons being moved into the region? That is the kind of thing happening here. Those weapons were locally produced.

“We have had communal disturbances in places like Umuode, Oruku, Isiuzo, and Uzouwani all in Enugu State, and these involve weapons. We have clashes in Ezza Effium in Ebonyi State where about 10 persons were killed in the first week of May; in Ndiefi-Ishieke in Ebonyi State where about 50 houses were burnt last year among others. These are things fueling the rise in arms proliferation. When people think that they don’t have protection, they want to do it their way.

“If you go to Imo state, there are communities that are still under siege and controlled by non-state actors. There are places where the people have carried their destiny in their hands. Situations of this nature make it difficult to control and check the spread of arms and ammunition,” he said

Okoro further noted that arms bearing increased in the South East region from 2021, following the Owerri, Imo State jailbreak, and the arrest and detention of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), NnamdiKanu. He added that the ugly development was compounded by economic difficulties that have forced many youths to embrace crimes such as kidnapping and armed robbery.

He stated that the government must live up to its obligations of providing security, jobs, equal opportunities and tackling the economic difficulties if the trend must be checked.