Niger State plan to buy pump action guns for vigilantes - See how dem wan do am

Secretary to Niger state goment for central Nigeria Ahmed Matane tell BBC say di plan to buy pump action guns for vigilantes across di state na well thought out plan wey no go bring wahala.

Niger state govnor Abubakar Bello make announcement after meeting with vigilante groups on Monday.

Mr Ahmed tell BBC say di vigilantes no go dey with di guns 24hrs as some pipo dey think, dem go only get di guns for operations and dem go return am to police after each operation.

"Unlike wetin some pipo dey think no be say di vigilantes go hold di guns for 24hrs, di guns go dey with police and when operation dey dem go get am and return am afterwards because police get legal backing to hold and keep weapons."

On wetin some pipo dey yan say why di vigilantes go get pump action while di bandits and oda criminals get AK 47 wey dey more powerful, di goment official say legally vigilantes no suppose hold weapon wey reach AK47.

"AK47 na for army and police wey get all di required training and legal backing to hold but for vigilantes e no suppose reach dat level but at di same time, police go handle all di training wey we wan give dem and also we dey try update our Vigilante Laws so dat e go dey up to date with wetin we want do."

Mr Ahmed say di plan to arm di vigilantes is very important to di state goment because only 30 percent of di state has police presence.

"In di state only 30 percent has any security presence and for di rest there is a gap, that is where we want di vigilantes to helep us cover."

"And our plan in any way no dey similar to Amotekun of di south west."

He concluded by saying for dis plan the goment is placing priority on 5 local goment wia di insecurity dey more than di rest.

Isa Manniru wey dey stay Niger state tell BBC say e dey support di move to arm vigilantes considering di insecurity wey dey disturb di state.

"To me i feel say if vigilantes get di gun e go helep wella to reduce cases of insecurity because anoda thing wey dey ginger dis criminals be say dem know say vigilantes no get anything to shoot with even if dem jam."