Nigeria Newspapers Online

Many of the illicit weapons currently used by terrorists and bandits in Nigeria originally belonged to the Federal Government.

This is according to the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

Ribadu spoke Thursday in Abuja at the Arms Destruction Exercise organised by the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

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The NSA said these weapons fell into the wrong hands due to corrupt elements within the security agencies.

He, however, said the country is capable of handling its security concerns.

Ribadu said: “We have to find a way of putting a stop to this. We must, if we want to recover our country and live in peace and stability.

“The worst human being is a policeman or a soldier who will take arms from his own formations and sell it or hide it out for the bad people to come and kill his own colleagues.

“We must fight these people, but also there are merchants of death and evil from outside the world. The proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons remains a major threat to our national security, exacerbating issues such as insurgency, banditry and other violent crimes.”