A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has thrown her weight behind the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, who spoke against the high rate of insecurity in the country and told members of his Church to defend themselves against attackers.

HURIWA recalled that the respected Pastor Adeboye stressed that there was nowhere in the Bible that God said His children should not defend themselves.

Adeboye’s call is coming as the Chairman of the Katsina State Traditional Council of Chiefs and Emir of Katsina, Dr Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, has raised the alarm over what he described as the multifaceted worsening security challenges facing the residents of the state.

Adeboye, during the church’s July 2022 Holy Ghost Service in a viral video, had said “enough is enough,” adding that henceforth, “it’s fire for fire.”

Against the backdrop of the admonition by Pastor Enoch Adeboye on the necessity of embracing self defence to save their lives from being wasted by armed terrorists, the Rights grpup said that just like the Zamfara State Governor authorised citizens of the state to bear arms, the Reverend gentleman was right to mobilise his members to do all they can to remain alive because, as it were, only the living can worship God.

HURIWA noted that the implications of embracing self defence were multifaceted and affirmed that it was an indication of the collapse of the centralised system of government due to the incompetence of the head of government to safeguard the lives of the citizens and their property.

It pointed out that another implication was that it would open the floodgates for other states to take similar lawful steps to protect their citizens for the time being until such a time that Nigeria has an effective and functional security system. “If the people don't protect themselves because government at the centre can't protect them because of criminal dereliction of duty on the part of President Muhammadu Buhari and the collusion and compromises of the National Assembly that failed to provide oversight responsibility to demand action from the President to stop the killings of Nigerians, the National Assembly has the power to impeachment a failed President which President Muhammadu Buhari is but Ahmed Lawan and Femi Gbajabiamila are 'errand boys' of the failed president; so as his pupils, they can't move against their principal because the National Assembly’s independence has been mortgaged since 2019.

“The last implication is for the National Assembly to impeach the President so we don't have arms proliferation in Nigeria,” HURIWA submitted in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko on Sunday, June 3, 2022.

The group said the decision by the Zamfara State Governor to ask citizens to pick up arms for the purposes of self-defence is constitutionally permitted under Section 33(2) (a) which provides for self defence.

HURIWA further noted that “fundamentally, the primary purpose of government, as clearly spelt out under section 14(2) (b) is “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.

“So the Zamfara State government’s innovative way of safeguarding the lives of the citizens of that state is necessitated by the overwhelming failures of the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to dispense and discharge his constitutionally mandated primary obligations as President who has the command and control of the Armed Forces as stipulated in Sections 218, 217, 215 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.

“And because the right to life which is sacrosanct as provided for in section 33(1) must be safeguarded by all means from extrajudicial execution, it is permissible for the state government to opt for individual self-defence since the national government has failed in this very critical obligations of the law demanded of his office as contained in the following provisions: Section 215.”

“Lastly, on my take, I will say that we are passing through the worst phase in our national life because of the abysmal failures of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to do just the basic constitutionally obliged duties such as protecting Nigerians from mass killers who are allowed to roam about freely and killing Nigerians. Zamfara State has provided the most practicable solution that is constitutionally permitted. I will ask all state governors to take same steps to defend their people,” Onwubiko said.

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