The presidency has released a video showing President Muhammadu Buhari asking security operatives to shoot anyone found carrying AK47 rifle. 

Pulse had recently reported that Garba Shehu, the Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, in an interview with the BBC said the president directed military commanders to go into bushes and shoot anyone bearing AK47 rifles. 

Subsequently, Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom commended the president for issuing the order, but the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu maintained that Buhari should have announced the order himself. 

Perhaps to clear doubts, the presidency via its official Twitter handle on Thursday, March 11, 2021, released a 14-second video showing the president issuing the order.

In the clip, Buhari said, “Anybody with AK-47 should be shot because AK-47 is supposed to be registered and it is only given to security officials.”

Buhari is believed to have issued the order on the backdrop of the recent verbal clash between Governors Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State and Samuel Ortom of Benue State. 

Mohammed had argued that herdsmen should be allowed to use AK47 for self-defence, while Ortom disagreed that the herders use the weapons to wreak havoc on host communities.