“Self-defense is not just a set of techniques; it’s a state of mind, and it begins with the belief that you are worth defending.” – Rorion Gracie, a renowned Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master.
The universality of self-defence refers to the inherent and widely recognised right of individuals and states to use force for the purpose of defending themselves against an imminent or actual threat, a concept found across cultures, religions, and philosophies, and enshrined in international law.
The spate of killings by gun totting criminals would make the suggestion by the current Director-General of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) Mr. Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi and that of the former Defence Minister, Lt.General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma for Nigerian citizens to carry arms will suffice to go on self defence.
The proposal should be given a serious consideration in view of the incessant waves of killings across the country by criminals, unabated. There’s no day reports would not detail how people were hacked down and lives snuffed off without concurrent action taken by government. Many communities have been turned into graveyards as result of the heinous crimes while government and its agents seem to derive pleasure chasing shadows by organising endless and conducting useless enquiries to unearth what is reponsible for criminal activities unleashed on innocent souls. Rather, our government opted to waste resources supposedly on what should have been used for securing lives and properties sponsoring excursions for few privileged public officials.
Mr. Ajayi opined that the country’s security agencies should not become “the nation’s first line of defence in tackling the current issues. According to him, you do not expect the Nigerian Army, police, and SSS to protect every Nigerian. It is not going to work,” He said.
It would be an under-statement that our lives are not valued by Nigeria Government. How does any government or its officials feel losing hundreds of her citizens in a day to the activities of terrorists and criminal elements and feels unperturbed? Something definitely is amiss!
It is against this backdrop that it is practically impossible to protect the life of each citizen at all times that led to the universal concept of self-defence. Which the SSS DG tried to highlight as the possible solution to our security challenges.
The universality of self-defence refers to the inherent and widely recognised right of individuals and states to use force for the purpose of defending themselves against an imminent or actual threat, a concept found across cultures, religions, and philosophies, and enshrined in international law. In fact, so important is the principle of self-defence that it found its way into the United Nations Charter.
Article 51 of the UN Charter states that “Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations…” In other words, according to the UN, self-defence is an inalienable right of an individual. It has nothing to do with the government.
Even at that, the most powerful country in the world today in terms of military might and security is the United States. In 2023, the country spent a whopping $820 billion on security. However, it still is the country with the highest number of guns in private hands in the world. With 340 million people in 2024, there were 393 million privately owned firearms in the US. This translates to 120.5 firearms per 100 persons. Nobody has accused the US government that in spite of its $820 billion security budget, Americans are still responsible for protecting themselves.
Nobody has called for the scrapping of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) which, by the way, has budgeted $11.3 billion for 2025. Nobody has said, well, since nearly all Americans bear arms, the over 2.63 million military personnel in six branches of the US military should be disbanded.
Self-defence is standard practice all over the world, so the SSS DG didn’t say or propose anything new. Even in Switzerland, considered one of the safest countries in the world, private gun ownership is common. Citizens, including those who have completed military service, are allowed to own firearms, but with regulations and permits required for acquisition and carrying in public. The same kind of regulation the DSS boss advocated.
Back home in Africa, several countries encourage their citizens to bear arms for self-defence. There was this recent case of a Namibian man arrested by Nigerian security officers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. He had a pistol. When Nigerian authorities reached out to the Namibian High Commission, after running some checks, they confirmed that the arrestee was duly licenced by their home government to carry the weapon. Nigerian security officers had no choice but to release him. From Ghana to South Africa, from Egypt to Angola, citizens are permitted to bear arms for self-defence.
Centuries before countries came together to form the United Nations, our forefathers understood the principle of self-defence. This is captured in this very common African proverb: “It is only a tree that would hear it is going to be cut down, and it would stay unmoved.” Time to liberalise arms is rife in Nigeria.
While one is not suspecting government calculated systematic invasion of its citizens during Buhari tenure when citizens were “ordered” to submit their guns and firearms to her security agencies, it is becoming apparent now that there was a sinister moves to “surrender not only our lives but our lands” to cowardly Fulani herdsmen, jihadists and terrorists (whatever guide they come).
This is an invasion in broad daylight and in the darkness of the night against unsuspecting, armless citizens by foreigners.
One wonders, benefits of hindsight, why eyes are closed and ears stopped against those who have claimed they invited foreigners to come and invade a sovereign state.
Could there be a conspiracy of contrived nature between the past and the present governments to annihilate the entire Nigeria? I have not seen or heard a part of this country that has not been occupied by these terrible terrorists invaders unleashing mayhem unchecked.
It is high time the Federal Government takes a decisive step to free the hands of the citizens to defend their own lives if the the government has become so lame to tackle this menace.
●Lanre Ogundipe
Public Affairs Analyst,
Former President Nigeria and African Union of Journalists
April 22, 2025
