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The universality of self-defence refers to the inherent and widely recognised right of individuals and states to use force for the purpose of defending themselves against an imminent or actual threat, a concept found across cultures, religions, and philosophies, and enshrined in international law.
Growing up on the dusty streets of Sabon-Gari in Kano saw me take a liking to several newspaper columnists. One of these columnists is Sonala Olumhese. Perhaps, owing to his ability to deliver his message in simple yet flowery language, not minding whose ox is gored, his penchant for delving into topical issues, or his sense of humour, I always found his columns delightful, educative and insightful. I, therefore, was understandably perturbed, if not disheartened, reading his piece of 6 April, titled “We Have To Shut Down the State Security Service.” I kept wondering if it was the same Sonala Olumhese who penned this piece. Or a hilarious parody?
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Uncle Sonala, as I love to call him, began by narrating how, in August 2024, Mr Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi became the new director-general of the State Security Service (SSS).
“Six months after his arrival, Mr Ajayi is proposing new thinking about Nigeria that suggests the collapse of the government’s traditional security architecture and its responsibility for fixing its growing insecurity,” he noted.
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He continued, “According to the SSS chief, communities — not the country’s security agencies — should now become the nation’s first line of defence in tackling the current issues.
“You do not expect the Nigerian Army, police, and SSS to protect every Nigerian. It is not going to work,” he quoted – and rightly so – the SSS boss as saying.
Apparently, the position of the SSS boss did not sit well with the respected columnist. And he didn’t conceal his sentiments.
He snarled, “We DO expect the security agencies to do their work. That is what the constitution provides, affirming that ‘the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.’ Not secondary purpose, but the ‘primary.'”
Not done, the columnist continued, “This means that this is the first order of business of the government of the federation, which is the level of governance that has—and controls—the security agencies.”
Apparently, he was miffed that Mr Ajayi, arguably one of the finest Secret Service officers in the history of Nigeria, “cited examples of communities in Nigeria that are on record for combating and defeating attacks, trying to frame them as a template for Nigeria if she is to defeat insecurity.”
He blurted, “It is a bad argument. Nigerian communities have always defended themselves and they still do, despite the imbalance in modern firepower where they find themselves holding sticks and cutlasses as against the handguns and assault rifles routinely deployed against them by kidnappers, terrorists or even security agents.”
Mr Olumhese, in his piece, noted that, “it is the responsibility of the state to protect its citizens,” noting, “it is a debt the government incurs when it takes the oath of office.”
He noted that, “the problem is that in Nigeria, after the government has been sworn in, the love of luxury and sense of power kicks in over and above a sense of obligation.”
Over the years, I have, time and again, seen columnists fall into the trap that social scientists call value judgement. For those who may not be familiar with the term, value judgement is a statement expressing an opinion about the worth, goodness, or importance of something, based on personal values or beliefs, rather than objective facts.
To be sure, the protection of life and property is the core responsibility of governments the world over. What remains a global challenge is how to tackle this arduous, if not impossible, task.
Like what economists call the “Problem of Scarcity,” where we have an unlimited number of desires in the face of limited resources, the challenge becomes how to allocate these limited resources.
In 2024, the world population was estimated to be 8.2 billion people. Mr Olumhese would agree that it is impracticable to assemble 8.2 billion policemen for the sole purpose of policing 8.2 billion people. Attempting to do that would mean that we wouldn’t have teachers, drivers, firemen – and columnists!
It was against the grain of this reality that the United Nations recommended the minimum ratio of one policeman to protect 450 citizens. Nigeria has a police to citizen ratio of 1 to 600.
It is interesting to note that even in the United Kingdom, which has a relatively high police to citizen ratio of 1:179, there were over 570 recorded homicide victims in 2024. In other words, in 2024, the UK government was unable to prevent the murder of 570 citizens. Imagine if these hapless victims had the opportunity to defend themselves. Perhaps they’d be alive today!
It is against the realisation that it is practically impossible to protect the life of each citizen at all times that led to the universal concept of self-defence, which the SSS DG tried to highlight as the possible solution to our security challenges.
The universality of self-defence refers to the inherent and widely recognised right of individuals and states to use force for the purpose of defending themselves against an imminent or actual threat, a concept found across cultures, religions, and philosophies, and enshrined in international law.
In fact, so important is the principle of self-defence that it found its way into the United Nations Charter. Article 51 of the UN Charter states that, “Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations…”
In other words, according to the UN, self-defence is an inalienable right of an individual. It has nothing to do with the government.
Even at that, the most powerful country in the world today in terms of military might and security is the United States. In 2023, the country spent a whopping $820 billion on security. However, it still is the country with the highest number of guns in private hands in the world. With 340 million people in 2024, there were 393 million privately owned firearms in the US. This translates to 120.5 firearms per 100 persons. Nobody has accused the US government that, in spite of its $820 billion security budget, Americans are still responsible for protecting themselves.
Nobody has called for the scrapping of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) which, by the way, has budgeted $11.3 billion for 2025. Nobody has said, well, since nearly all Americans bear arms, the over 2.63 million military personnel in six branches of the US military should be disbanded.
Self-defence is standard practice all over the world, so the SSS DG didn’t say or propose anything new. Even in Switzerland, considered one of the safest countries in the world, private gun ownership is common. Citizens, including those who have completed military service, are allowed to own firearms, but with regulations and permits required for acquisition and carrying in public. The same kind of regulation the DSS boss advocated.
Back home in Africa, several countries encourage their citizens to bear arms for self-defence. There was this recent case of a Namibian man arrested by Nigerian security officers at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. He had a pistol. When Nigerian authorities reached out to the Namibian High Commission, after running some checks, they confirmed that the arrestee was duly licenced by their home government to carry the weapon. Nigerian security officers had no choice but to release him. From Ghana to South Africa, from Egypt to Angola, citizens are permitted to bear arms for self-defence.
Centuries before countries came together to form the United Nations, our forefathers understood the principle of self-defence. This is captured in this very common African proverb: “It is only a tree that would hear it is going to be cut down, and it would stay unmoved.”
On a final note, it is important to note that the SSS DG, Mr Oluwatosin Adeola Ajayi isn’t the first high-profile security chief to call for self-defence as a solution to our insecurity. In October 2022, retired Army General, Theophilus Y Danjuma advised Nigerians to take up arms and defend themselves against terrorist attacks. Danjuma, it would be recalled, served as chief of army staff, and later, minister of defence. He made the call way long after leaving office.
In my opinion, for having the uncommon courage be the first serving security chief to openly call for the design of a system that would allow Nigerians bear arms to defend themselves, Mr Oluwatosin Adeola Ajayi, whom I understand bagged the national honour of MON for his security exploits in the early 2000s, deserves another higher national honour! We should learn to reward excellence!
Bako Abdul wrote from Kano.
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