Nabilu Balarabe
Jalingo – Malam Mohammed Mustapha, a lawyer and human rights activist, on Sunday cautioned states government against supplying arms to vigilantes, describing it “a threat to national security’’.
Mustapha told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jalingo that arming vigilante would increase the spread of light weapons in the country.
He explained that vigilantes were not properly trained to bear arms, adding that they could be easily manipulated by extremist groups and politicians to perpetrate crime.
Mustapha was reacting to the recent recruitment of 1,800 vigilantes by Taraba State government to enforce its open grazing prohibition law.
He alleged that the state government was planning to supply dane guns or weapons to the vigilantes which according to him was illegal and punishable by law.
But reacting, Senior Special Assistant to Gov. Darius Ishaku on Media and Publicity, Mr Bala Dan-Abu, confirmed that the state government was training vigilantes but it had no intention to arm them.
