The Osun State Police Command has called on illegal gun owners to voluntarily surrender their guns at the nearest divisional police headquarters.
The command’s spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola, in a statement on Wednesday, said the call was in line with the directive of the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to mop up and curtail the proliferation of firearms.
“There is no punitive measure attached to the submission of the firearms. No one will be arrested or detained,” Opalola said.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the IG on August 8 said the police had stopped giving licences for small arms in the country.
“We are mopping up arms in circulation. There are too many arms in circulation, and if we continue to issue licences on arms, we may continue to aggravate the problems we are trying to solve.
“For now, there is a temporary ban on the issuance of firearms. We may review it later, but we are not issuing firearms licences nationwide now,” Egbetokun had said.
The Firearms Act has been responsible for the control of firearms in Nigeria for the past few years.
The Act provides that no person shall have in his possession or under his control any firearm or ammunition unless such person has a licence from the President or the IG.
Meanwhile, the Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has raised concerns over the proliferation of illegal firearms in the state.
In an advertorial published in The PUNCH on Wednesday, the Ogun PDP alleged that the illegal firearms in circulation were traceable to the ruling party, the All Progressive Congress from the last general elections.
The opposition party called on the state government to intervene by appealing to the relevant authorities to initiate a deliberate operation aimed at mopping these illicit weapons from
“We implore the state governor to plead with the police to launch a mop up of the illicit firearms purposively permitted to be used during the last election,” the PDP said.
