As the country contends with the huge challenge of banditry, a former federal lawmaker, Shehu Sani, on Thursday advised the government to “officially” allow residents of Northern and Southern Kaduna to carry weapons.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Sani said this via his verified Twitter handle.
“If the Government and security agencies can’t crush this terrorists and Bandits kidnapping and killing our people in Northern and Southern Kaduna, people should be officially allowed to carry same weapons and let’s see who owns the land,” Sani wrote.
Nigeria’s northwest and north-central states have long been afflicted by violence fuelled by disputes over access to land and resources, among other factors. Heavily armed gangs have taken advantage of the lack of effective policing to launch attacks, pillage villages, steal cattle and kidnap for ransom.
But violence has recently become more widespread, piling pressure on the federal government – already battling the Boko Haram armed group and its offshoot in the northeast for more than a decade – to do more to halt the attacks.
