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Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo will next week undertake a symbolic destruction of a large quantity of small weapons and ammunition in the capital, Abuja, ‘The Guardian’ newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The paper reported chairman of the National Committee on Small Arms and Light Weapons, Musa Yahaya, as saying the bulk of the weapons, now in police custody, were either seized at the nation’s borders or from scenes of communal conflicts and other recent trouble spots around the country.
“President Obasanjo is eager to carry out the exercise if only it will prove to the nation the genuineness of his commitment to the cause of peace and a true reconciliation among the over 250 different tongues that make up the country, Nigeria,” Yahaya was quoted as saying.
He said the measure was in line with the 1999 moratorium on the destruction of illicit weapons adopted by the Economic Community of West African States in Abuja. It would also be coming ahead of the United Nations special day for destruction of illicit small and light weapons on 9 July.
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