Ndume ~ Half Of Us In Senate Own Guns

As Nigerian Senators debated a motion to urge the parliament to stop alleged moves by Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, to arm vigilante groups in the state with rifles in his decision to address insecurity in the state, progressed, Ali Ndume (Borno South) revealed to the chagrin of many that about half of the 109 senators in the Senate own guns.

Mr Ndume, who was canvassing for the arming of vigilante groups, said “if the gunmen or attackers know that the villagers own guns the situation would have been different.

“And let me ask this question Mr President, why is it that almost half of us here own guns.”

But feeling uncomfortable with the statement, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the sitting, quickly asked Mr Ndume to retract the statement, saying he could not substantiate the insinuation.

According to him, Mr Ndume has not searched the house of any senator to ascertain if senators own arms or not.

In his attempt to retract the statement, Mr Ndume said he was not portraying the senators as indiscriminately possessing arms, rather he was only emphasising that concentration should centre only on those who possess arms for harmful purposes and not on those who possess it for self-defence or for hunting.