The National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, has disclosed that many of the illicit arms currently being used by terrorists and bandits across the country were those procured by the Federal Government for its security agencies but seized by the armed men during clashes.
The NSA stated that corrupt elements within the security agencies also contributed to the movement of these arms to the terrorist.
Ribadu spoke Thursday in Abuja at the Arms Destruction Exercise organised by the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW) in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
He, however, said the country is capable of handling its security concerns.
Ribadu said: “We have to find a way of putting a stop to this. We must, if we want to recover our country and live in peace and stability.
“The worst human being is a policeman or a soldier who will take arms from his own formations and sell it or hide it out for the bad people to come and kill his own colleagues.
“We must fight these people, but also there are merchants of death and evil from outside the world. The proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons remains a major threat to our national security, exacerbating issues such as insurgency, banditry and other violent crimes.”
