By Linus Aleke
The Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN), over the weekend, denied involvement in the trending video, where Majority Leader of the Lower Chambers of the National Assembly, Al-Hassan Ado Doguwa was seen handling sophisticated weapon under the watch and guide of an unidentified soldier cladded on Nigerian military uniform.
The Acting Director Defence Information (DDI), Brig-Gen. Tukur Gusau, in a statement titled, “Re: Misrepresentation of Hon Al-Hassan Ado Doguwa’s video firing AK 47 rifle,” averred that the video was the product of mischief makers who are bent on denting the good image of the Nigerian military.
The military spokesperson further noted that the video in question was taken at Falgore Forest Military Training Camp during the 3 Brigade Nigerian Army Training Exercise where Doguwa was invited as a special guest.
Meanwhile, before continuing with the defence put forward by the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), on the involvement or otherwise of the Nigerian military, as well as the furore that greeted the infamous video, it is imperative to examine the legal instruments governing arm handling by citizens in Nigeria.
It is also heart-wrenching to know that Nigeria accounts for 70 per cent of illegal guns in West Africa, according to a United Nations report of August 3, 2016.
The report also linked the high level of insecurity in the country to the aforesaid fact. This, the data noted, raises serious questions on insecurity and how to curb gun proliferation in Nigeria.
Interestingly, the 1999 Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to life under Section 33 (1).
To this end, it can be validly argued that beneath the right to life is the right to protect one’s life from harm or unlawful attack with reasonable force.
Section 33 (2) (a) gives a private citizen the authority to use reasonable force to defend him or herself from unlawful violence or for the defence of property. In the Nigerian statutes book, it is called the right to self-defence.
But this right to self-defence does not obliterate the exclusive rights of the state to the use of the instrument of coercion, through the deployment of light weapons and heavy armaments, to enforce compliance, quell the insurrection, or defend territorial integrity.
In pre-colonial Nigerian history, citizens were allowed to bear firearms for various purposes without restrictions by any constituted authorities. However, as time progressed and the territory of Nigeria came under the administrative influence and authority of the British Empire, the story changed.
Laws prohibiting citizens from bearing modern arms and ammunition came into force within the newly amalgamated colonial territory. Fast-forward to the current reality otherwise known in the political and historical circle, as post-colonial Nigeria, the legal instruments on who should and should not bear arms become conspicuous in the codified laws. The provisions of the Firearms Act illuminate the above thought.
Interestingly, the important question urging many mouths to ask is why the furore is over the subject under scrutiny. The obvious answer is not unconnected to the arrest of the principal character in the video, Alhassan Ado Doguwa by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), over his alleged involvement in the killing of several persons and burning of the Secretariat of New Nigeria People’s Party in the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections.
Doguwa, most dailies reported, was arrested at the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport while boarding a flight to Abuja. Sources quoted by the publications, also, alleged that the federal lawmaker equally used the pistol of his orderly to fire several persons, stressing, “We have arrested him in connection to murder and arson”.
The police had affirmed that no fewer than three persons were killed when the campaign secretariat of the party located in the Tudunwada area of the state was set on fire.
Two persons, the dailies reported were also burnt to death during the crisis that broke out during the collation of the results of the Doguwa/Tudunwada House of Representatives election, which was announced to have been won by Dogunwa.
Meanwhile, Dogunwa had since denied his involvement. But on March 6, a Federal High Court sitting in Kano released on bail the Majority Leader, who was detained over alleged complicity in the murder of three members of his constituency.
The police prosecutor told the court that Doguwa allegedly committed the offence on 26 February at the Tudun Wada Local Government Area of Kano State. The police added that the offences are contrary to sections 97, 114, 221,247, and 336 of the penal code.
Doguwa was initially charged to a magistrate court in Kano but his lawyer approached the Federal High Court and sought his bail while questioning the jurisdiction of the magistrate to entertain the case.
Nevertheless, in an ex parte application for the enforcement of his rights, Doguwa’s counsel, Nuraini Jimoh, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), appealed to the court to release the accused on bail on the ground that the magistrate court that has no jurisdiction to entertain the case.
Judge Yunusa Muhammad, the online news portal, reported, granted him bail in the sum of N500m, with the condition that the suspect must provide two sureties, one of which shall be a first-class traditional ruler while the other must be a permanent secretary at the federal or state civil service.
However, the stroke that triggered public opprobrium and furore that dragged the Nigerian military into firearm handling involving the same parliamentarian, which, pushed the military to issue a strong rebuttal was the trending video on almost all social media platforms.
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ), through the Acting Director Defence Information (DDI), Brigadier General Tukur Gusau, said, the viral video of Doguwa was posted with the intent to dent the image of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, especially during this period when the role of the Armed Forces in the last Presidential and National Assembly elections was hailed by Nigerians and International community.
The DDI said, “The attention of the Defence Headquarters has been drawn to a viral video circulating in the Social Media platforms, where the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Hon Alhassan Ado Doguwa was seen firing an AK 47 rifle guided by military personnel’s. The Defence Headquarters wishes to state that the video is a calculated attempt by mischief makers to discredit the Armed Forces of Nigeria and dent its image before the good people of this country and the world at large.”
Gusau recalled that the video in question was taken at Falgore Forest Military Training Camp during the 3 Brigade Nigerian Army Training Exercise where Hon Alhassan Ado Doguwa was invited as a special guest.
He further explained that when senior citizens and Special Guest are invited for such exercises, they are accorded the honour to participate in the firing exercise as a ceremonial firing party without any intention of making them trained gunners or mastering the use of firearms.
According to DHQ, “Ceremonial firing in such an exercise is the practice in the world over and is not new in the Armed Forces of Nigeria as several other senior citizens have participated in such exercises in the past.”
The DDI however, averred the viral video of Doguwa was posted with the intent to dent the image of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, especially at this period when the role of the Armed Forces in the last Presidential and National Assembly elections was hailed by Nigerians and International community.
In addition, he said, some clerics have equally released audio clips containing wrong interpretations of the speech the Majority Leader made at the occasion.
This doctored interpretation of the speech, he lamented is capable of instigating crisis, thus leading to heightened tension as the country prepares for a smooth transition to another elected government.
“The Defence Headquarters wishes to assure Nigerians that on no occasion would the Armed Forces of Nigeria engage in training or arming any individual or group of persons to take up arms against law-abiding citizens.
“As a responsible force, we will continue to discharge our constitutional responsibilities while also remaining apolitical to strengthen the democratic values of our great nation,” the Nigeria military said.
The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) cautioned those it described as “mischief makers,” not to dent the image of the Armed Forces with senseless videos and unconfirmed audio clips but rather channel their energy into making sure the country continues to strive higher in the preservation of democratic gains.
Strong and stern, as the statement from the stable of the Acting Director Defence Information (DDI), Brig-Gen. Tukur Gusau may seem to the eyes of many, but experts in statecraft said the military, by the said statement, presented itself to the world as a weak institution boxed into a corner and put on a defensive mode by some few subversive elements.
Paul Peterson, not his real name, told ThisNigeria that what the Nigerian military would have done was to deploy its personnel that are IT savvy to unmask the faces behind the campaign calumny against it.
This, he said, would be in addition to exposing to the citizens and indeed the entire globe, the IT techniques the image buccaneers used in arriving at their subverted video which is in circulation.
It ought to have also released to the public the full audio clip that misrepresented the fact, with the view to setting the records straight.
“In the past, trending videos, which show military personnel brutalizing citizens were dismissed by the military without showing the public how it arrived at its conclusion. In some instances, it would be said to be old videos that happened in West or Southern African countries.
“Other defence mechanism included, the personnel in the video cannot be said to be personnel of the Nigerian military, as they were not properly kitted,” he said.
The critic further said the Nigerian Army should be more sophisticated than what they are doing in the corridors of Public Relations and Information Management.
On his part, a military enthusiast, agreed partly with the previous speaker, especially as it concerns Information management, but added that the Nigerian military is amongst the best military forces in the world.
He pointed out that the excellent performance and professionalism often exhibited by the Nigerian contingent to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the United Nations (UN), Peace Keeping Operations, within and outside the continent of Africa, as is evidenced in the number of awards and recognition they get during the operations are enough testament.
He, however, concluded that the Nigerian military needs to invest more in the area of ICT, with a special focus on cyber security so as not to be left behind in the domain of virtual warfare.
