Court Declares Yahaya Bello’s Firearms Taskforce Illegal

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has declared as unconstitutional, the Special Task Force on Illegal Smuggling of Firearms that was set up by Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.

A concerned indigene of the state, Ahmadu Danjuma had in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/697/2023, challenged the establishment of the outfit.

Yahaya Bello, Friday Makama, the Director General of the Department of State Services, the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency, the Inspector General of Police and the National Security Adviser are first to sixth defendants in the suit.

Bello had insisted that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case which he said was incompetent.

Bello, through his team of lawyers led by Mr. A. M. Adoyi, argued that the plaintiff ought to have instituted the legal action before either a State High Court or the Federal High Court in Kogi State.

Delivering judgement on the matter, Justice James Omotosho, held that the issue of regulation of firearms in the country belongs to the Exclusive Legislative list.

The judge dismissed a preliminary objection that governor Bello filed to challenge its jurisdiction to entertain the suit.

He noted that all the heads of the security agencies that were cited as Defendants in the suit, are based in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, adding that section 251 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, imbued the court with the requisite jurisdiction to hear and determine the case.

Omotosho said the governor had no powers to unilaterally regulate or control the possession of or dealing in firearms in Kogi state or any part thereof.

He held that the Department of State Services, the National Intelligence Agency, the Inspector General of Police and the National Security Adviser, are the proper agencies to regulate the possession of and dealing in firearms and ammunition in both Kogi state and other parts of the country.

Omotosho also declared that the appointment of Friday Makama as Director General of the special task force by governor Bello, “for the purpose of superintending firearms in Kogi State, is illegal, null and void.”