Two groups, Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Cross River State Chapter and the All Cross River State Nationals Front have rejected the reported issue of an Executive Order by the President cancelling all firearms licenses and directing all legal owners of firearms to turn them over to the authorities.
The groups, in a statement made available to DAILY POST titled “We reject the executive order for the surrendering of firearms” signed by Ntufam Edet Okon Asim, Secretary of all Cross River Nationals Front and Engineer Bassey Ekefre, Secretary, PANDEF Cross River State chapter, rejected the order in its entirety.
The groups said, “We viewed with consternation, the recent reports of an Executive Order issued by the President cancelling all firearms licenses and directing all legal owners of firearms to turn them over to the authorities.
“We believe that the Executive Order was not rigorously thought through as its implementation will amount to surrendering even the most basic form of family self – defence and leaving the people open to unrestricted affront from the marauding murderers that have left a horrendous trail of bloodshed all over the country.
“It is our view that the legal possession of firearms is not the problem, the main affront to the security of lives and property of Nigerians is the proliferation of a wide range of illegal arms in the hands of criminals elements and bandits all over the country.
“For us in Cross River State, the insecurity in the Gulf of Guinea and the complexity of the insurrection in the Republic of Cameroon has put us in further peril of an arms glut, the scale of which we have never known in these parts before.
“In the wake of this urgent existential threat to life and limb, it will amount to a gross infringement on the fundamental right to life of the people for the Federal Government to seek to withdraw legally held firearms by the law-abiding populace.”
The groups, while urging the Buhari government to pull back from that nefarious and insensitive stance in order to free itself from suspicion, said: “We condemn this so-called Executive Order in clear terms and urge Government to pull back from that nefarious and insensitive stance in order to free itself from the suspicion of a section of the populace who consider Government to be tacitly collaborating with the very agents of insecurity in the country, for the purpose of redistribution of fertile wetlands in the middle belt region and Southern Nigeria to Fulani herdsmen”.
