In response to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, the presidency has ruled that no state’s security forces are permitted to use automatic weapons like AK-47s.
In a statement to the media on Tuesday night, President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, claimed that the president “has repeatedly made clear that nobody is allowed to carry AK-47 or any other automatic weapons illegally and that they must abandon them.”
Mr. Akeredolu reportedly questioned why security organizations organized by southern Nigerian states like Ondo were allowed to carry AK-47s but similar organizations established by Katsina State were not.
Mr. Shehu said: “In the specific Katsina State often cited, the Governor, Aminu Bello Masari wrote to explain that the administration invited the Provost of the Civil Defence Training College in Katsina to train their Vigilantes for five days“in the handling and operations of Pump Action.