• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Illegal arms seizures signal danger for Saturday’s election

Illegal arms seizures signal danger for Saturday’s election
The palpable fear gripping Nigerians ahead of Saturday’s presidential and national Assembly election heightened when men of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU) Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) intercepted bales of police uniform, tear gas canisters and other paraphernalia of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) barely few days to election.
This interception adds fuel to the fire of recurring cases of importation and smuggling of illicit arms and ammunition into the country through the porous border stations and seaports.
Nigeria, the world’s sixth biggest producer of oil, is still battling with in-country terrorism since the advent of Boko Haram and the farmer-herder conflicts that have swept across the country’s north-central region, leading to thousands of deaths and destruction of valuable property.
BusinessDay checks show that in December 2016, the Tin-Can Island Port Command of Customs intercepted a set of guns concealed in an imported used vehicle, alongside some military camouflages and large quantity of gun accessories such as gun pellet and riffle paunch.
Between January and September 2017 alone, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) intercepted a total of 2,671 pump action rifles. Also, a Nigeria-bound Russian cargo ship, LADA, was arrested at the Port of Nura, near Port Elizabeth in South Africa, for carrying illegal arms.
In July 2018, about 393 rounds of live ammunition was impounded at Tin-Can port, while another container load of weapons was also intercepted by Customs in January 2019, few weeks to the general elections.     
Muhammed Aliyu, Customs Area Controller of the FOU Zone A, who described the impounded uniforms as threat to national security if obtained by wrong hands, listed items like ranks, belts, berets and police badges with identity cards as part of the intercepted items.
“The seizure is a threat to national security because the uniform can be used for kidnapping, Boko Haram or to frustrate elections but generally, it threatens national security. For instance, one bundle of this uniform can go for 10 persons and Nigerians will confuse such persons with Police not knowing that they are impostors,” Aliyu said.
Tony Anakebe, managing director, Gold Link Investment Ltd, a Lagos-based clearing and forwarding firm, expressed fear over the recurring illegal importation of arms and ammunition since 2016, saying it has become a trend for Nigeria’s political powerhouses to fortify their members with weapons to execute violence during or after elections.
“These arms and ammunition mostly end up in the hands of unauthorised persons. Right now, there has been series of predictions insinuating likely post-election crisis in some quarters in Nigeria if the incumbent government led by the All Progressives Congress (APC) fails to win elections, especially the presidential seat. We hope the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) does the right thing by giving Nigerians the opportunity to decide,” Anakebe said.  
Olayinka Ajala, associate lecturer and conflict analyst, University of York, who had earlier predicted that Nigeria did not appear ready for free and fair elections in 2019, said this election may be tarnished by acts of violence arising from politicians.
Ajala said apart from the threats of Boko Haram in the northeast and violent herder-farmer clashes in the north-central region, arms proliferation was another major security concern.
“The proliferation of arms prior to elections also remains a huge threat. Since the 2003 elections, the arming of supporters has become an election tool,” Ajala said in a published article.
Blaming the Department of State Security (DSS), upon whose shoulder rests the responsibility of carrying out further investigation on arms importation after the seizures by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Emma Nwabunwanne, a Lagos-based importer, tasked officers of Customs to be extra security-conscious in inspecting cargoes, especially imports at the ports and land borders.