Security professionals object to the Senate’s inclusion of the National Taskforce on the Prohibition of Illegal Importation/Smuggling of Arms, Ammunition, Light Weapons, Chemical Weapons, and Pipeline Vandalism (NATFORCE) in the new Act creating the National Commission for the Coordination and Control of the Proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons.
The Bill establishing the Commission was passed by the Senate on Tuesday, and it is anticipated that the House of Representatives will do the same when it reconvenes in September 2022.
However, during the blending of the two drafts, the security professionals asked the parliamentarians to remove NATFORCE from the Bill.
They said that by taking NATFORCE out of the Bill, the Senate’s mistaken inclusion of the organization in the legislation approved this week by the National Assembly’s upper chamber would be rectified.
The only national coordination mechanism for the Federal Government’s efforts to control and monitor the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Nigeria is the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), which is currently housed in the Office of the National Security Adviser and is led by Major-General A. M. Dikko (rtd).
The NCCSALW would become a fully functioning Commission as soon as the Senate signs the Bill into law this week, and the House of Representatives is expected to follow suit.
According to Commander Yusuf Ibrahim (rtd), a security expert based in Kaduna, if NATFORCE is allowed to join the proposed Commission, it could exacerbate the already unstable security situation in the nation.
The security expert claims that in June 2021, the federal government proclaimed NATFORCE to be an illegal security organization and ordered it and other organizations with a similar mission to dissolve right away and cease all of their unlawful operations across the country.
The security expert claims that in June 2021, the federal government proclaimed NATFORCE to be an illegal security organization and ordered it and other organizations with a similar mission to dissolve right away and cease all of their unlawful operations across the country.
According to the security expert, “NATFORCE’s illegal activities have rendered the SALW Committee ineffective, hamstrung, and left it with the challenge of extricating itself from dubious conducts of a security outfit already banned by Federal Government through the Office of the National Security Adviser.”
Therefore, before putting the Bill into law, the security consultant and expert encouraged the House of Representatives to make sure NATFORCE is not permitted to be a part of its own version of the Bill.
In a similar vein, Dr. Samuel Adesola, a security expert and national coordinator for the Centre for Security, Peace and Democracy (CSPD), recalled that NATFORCE had recently had its operations in all of the nation banned by the Federal Government in addition to being declared illegal by the country’s competent courts, including the High Court and Court of Appeal.
Adesola argued that it is odd that the Senate has suddenly incorporated such a body in its version of the bill that aims to create a legally constituted Commission.
He continued by saying that other unwitting candidates were bemoaning NATFORCE’s extortionate and criminal activities around the nation.
Adesola emphasized that the Senate should not have fallen for the risky stunts of its proponents by inserting NATFORCE in the proposed Act given the existence of several court rulings deeming NATFORCE an unconstitutional organisation and invalidating its ongoing illegal operations.
According to him, the Federal High Court in Abuja’s ruling, which the Court of Appeal has since overturned, has no longer any legal standing, ending NATFORCE’s numerous lawsuits against the Department of State Service (DSS). He expressed surprise that the illegal organization had continued to be recalcitrant and had even increased its deception of the general public into believing that it is recognized by the law.
Therefore, Adesola encouraged the House of Representatives to ensure that NATFORCE is not included in its own version before passing it into law in order to fix the anomaly in the Bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday.
The head of the CSPD further noted that the Federal High Court in Ilorin, Kwara State, has resolved the arguments made by NATFORCE in its action at the Federal High Court (FHC) Abuja challenging the Minister of Finance’s authority to dissolve the organization.
Adesola added, “In NATFORCE’s suit against the DSS, this illegal body had prayed the court to bar the DSS from stopping its activities based on a judgement of the Federal High Court Abuja. But it will interest you to note that Justice A.O Faji, who presided over the Court had since June 3, 2014 dismissed the suit ruling that the judgement of Chukwu (Justice) was based on the letter from the Minister of Finance disbanding NATFORCE. The Court of Appeal also upheld this decision of the High Court.
“So, NATFORCE promoters cannot continue to rely on the decision of the Federal High Court, Abuja, when a higher court, the Court of Appeal, has since nullified the lower court’s judgement. So, NATFORCE should stop misrepresenting facts to the Nigerian public about its legality.”
