Following the directive by the Zamfara State Government to citizens of the State to bear arms to defend themselves against unstoppable banditry and terrorist attacks, the Chief of Defence Staff, (CDS), General Lucky Irabor, has said that the Attorney General of the Federation has a duty to tell Nigerians if the State Governor, Bello Matawalle, has the powers to ask citizens to bear arms.
The CDS spoke on the matter at the opening of the Joint Exercise for the National Defence College and War Colleges of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, code-named: “Exercise Grand Nationale”, which was held in Abuja.
According to him, the governor lacks the powers to direct the State’s Commissioner of Police to issue gun licences to residents as a measure against insecurity.
The CDS insisted that only the Commander-In-Chief has the constitutional powers to give directives to the armed forces as an instrument of policy implementation.
Irabor said the call was not right, as the armed forces and other security agencies were there to handle the challenges.
He pointed out that already there are actions that members of the security agencies and the armed forces, in particular, and the police and other security agencies, are taking to address insecurity in Zamfara and its environs.
The CDS emphasised that it was the responsibility of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to look at the constitution and the laws to see whether the governor had such powers.
He disclosed that the armed forces were only an instrument of policy implementation, which do not take instructions from State Governments, adding that the constitution gave such rights and powers only to the Commander-in-Chief.
