Dare Babalola
Former Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, has accused the government of giving terrorists “celebrity treatment”.
The former minister, in a statement via his Facebook page on Wednesday, lamented that while ordinary Nigerians defenseless against attacks, terrorists and bandits get special treatments at peace meetings set up by the government.
Titled “Beyond State Police: The Urgent Case for Citizens’ Right to Bear Arms,” Dalung’s post argued that Nigeria’s centralised security system had collapsed.
He decried that citizens are exposed to bandits, terrorists, and violent criminals armed with sophisticated weapons which, according to Dalung, they openly flaunt at government-sponsored peace meetings in the presence of security agencies.
He wrote, “The debate over the establishment of state police has returned to the constitutional front burner, with arguments being advanced both for and against it.
“While some focus only on the merits and demerits of decentralizing policing, the Nigerian security reality has deteriorated beyond such narrow considerations.
“With the collapse and compromise of our existing security architecture, what is urgently needed is not only the creation of state, local government, and community police, but also a constitutional amendment that allows citizens to bear arms legally for self-defense.
“Today, bandits, terrorists, and violent criminals brazenly wield sophisticated weapons—automatic rifles, hand grenades, rocket launchers, and even drone technology—inflicting untold trauma on innocent and defenseless Nigerians.
“Ironically, these same criminals are accorded celebrity treatment at government-sponsored ‘peace meetings,’ where they appear with their weapons in full view of security agencies, including the military.
“Meanwhile, ordinary citizens cannot keep even a kitchen knife for protection without risking arrest and prosecution. This double standard has left the masses exposed, helpless, and trapped in a system that protects the rich and violent actors while criminalizing the defenseless poor.”
