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The following letter originally appeared at ends.ng and is reprinted here with permission

Dear Governor Shettima,

We are writing you openly, that the people see and know you were advised openly. You have waited and watched your people being picked off like hens in a pen for the past four years. You have relied on and waited for the State security services to protect life and industry in your state of four years, but your people are dying now even faster than before . . .

Within the last three days, over 600 of the citizens of your state were slaughtered cheaply. They died at work, at the market, while bathing their children, in the farm. This is just one more week of death in your state. Your state is in global news because 234 girls were kidnapped in your state; these we know add to the hundreds who have been kidnapped, and abused till pregnancy or death by Boko Haram over the past four years. These girls, we know add to the more who have been kidnapped after April 15th and the boys of your state, and farmers of tomorrow who have likewise been kidnapped and forced at knife-point to become Boko Haram’s new recruits all through the four years.

Dear Governor Kashim Shettima, do you know that what has happened in Borno would never happen in any other state in Nigeria without the governor giving his people guns and a course in training so they can defend themselves? Your people are great warriors and Patriots. Let them defend themselves.

Do you know that with the massacres of up to 40,000 of your citizens, with hundreds of thousands displaced, with the losses to your agricultural production, to the mental state of your people and to the future of your great region and indeed nation, there is no other country or state in the world that would have accepted this vulnerability and left its people at the sheer mercy of such marauding terrorists operating in impunity without giving them real rifles and a fair chance to fight off the terrorists and protect themselves and their loved ones? Have you looked at Algeria and what they did when they were faced by an identical situation?

Dear governor, how long do you think the people will wait for you to protect them before they decide to arm themselves with real guns outside of the law; and if such happens, how do you think these citizens who had to do so for themselves will regard you?

We urge and advise you to act now in the best interest of the remaining citizens of Borno state and in the best interest of Nigeria. As we write this, it is likely that more of your people are being sent to the great beyond by the terrorists who have decided that they know how to ride the Nigerian system that makes no sense and does not care to protect and cherish its people. May God protect them and give you the wisdom and courage to do what is right and in the best interest of your people and the nation.

Dr. Peregrino Brimah
http://ENDS.ng [Every Nigerian Do Something]

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67 COMMENTS

  1. I’d have tooled up way before it had came to what has been happening (and I’m sure some have). Glad that some folks recognize what needs to happen, but I wouldn’t be asking an official for “permission”.

    • Damn straight – I’d get me one of them $50 full-auto AKM’s, just like the murderers are gobbling up. In a lawless land, laws be damned.

  2. A heartfelt letter. Christians need to ARM themselves. Where pray tell do Muslim scum get their guns? I’m fairly certain nothing they do is legally obtained. Just like in Mexico these civilians need to take responsibility-legal or illegal.

    • I think throwing around the phrase “Muslim scum” is hateful enough to show your bigotry and invalidate your opinion in this matter.

      As it turns out, over 50% of Nigeria is Muslim. An entire group of people cannot and should not be acted against with prejudice and hate due to the actions of a vast minority of that group.

      Hmm, if only we knew a certain group of people that you belong to *cough* gun owners *cough* that this very website actively attempts to break from such prejudice and oppression received due to a few bad eggs *cough* murderers that use guns *cough*

      • Give me a break. Islam has terrorized entire sections of the world for decades if not centuries. Christianity wasn’t so great either, but really cleaned up its act in the last few centuries.

        ..and there are far more than “a few bad eggs” in the Islamic world, compared to gun owners. Not even remotely a valid comparison.

        • Progressivism is what is “terrorizing” the world these days. Much more than any traditional religion cold ever hope to. We should be happy that at least some are seeing that straight, and try to do something about it. Instead of happily bending over and cheering the Godless Leviathan on.

          If the Muzzies could just succeed in removing those preventing me from arming myself as I see fit, I’ll take my chances with them any day.

        • Our self-proclaimed christian nation sent its army to the Republic of South Vietnam with the support of vast numbers of christian citizens where that army proceeded to kill approximately two million Vietnamese. And that is a conservative estimate. I would think we still have some more cleaning up to do.

      • You obviously misunderstand. “Muslim SCUM” are completely different from regular Muslims. Notice the qualifier? You must have missed it in your zeal to be PC and Multicultural and Diverse. Don’t worry, it happens. Although the other 49.99% of Muslims in Nigeria would, as good Muslims, happily see their Christian neighbors slaughtered, their homes and churches burned, their children sold into slavery, their own women infibulated and treated as chattel, and all Infidels beheaded, FAR be it from us to lump them in with those 0.01%er nogoodniks who are somewhat less scrupulous in whom they slaughter and whose homes and churches get burned and which children are sold into slavery. Perish the thought!

        • Hey, watch this! I can make unfounded generalizations on the internet too!….I’m pretty sure some large number of the Christian population would happily see their Muslim neighbors slaughtered as well.

          Boko Haram are just plain simple outlaws. Their religious affiliation is/was one of convenience for acquiring arms and funding from Al-Qaeda. To make this strictly about religion, rather than just lawlessness is to throw gas on a fire for no reason – and undermining the credibility of your position.

        • Bdub, and other apologists for the Mohammedans, is it OK if those of us who believe in civilization make FOUNDED generalizations? I see nothing unfounded in the postings above.

          Religion of piece my rear.

        • “Christian population would happily see their Muslim neighbors slaughtered as well.”

          i.e. self-defense

        • I just new someone would call me an apologist. I make no apologies for ANY religion yours or theirs (neither are mine). I also don’t call for the extinguishing of a generalized group based on its perceived opposition to my specific group, because that would be, oh I don’t know, some kind of hypocrisy. A hypocrisy that is particularly idiotic given the history of your favored religion and its message of PEACE (that’s how that word is spelled, btw).

          My point was that given the religious demographics of Nigeria, and Boko Haram’s history of indiscriminant violence, there is a high degree of probability that their victims come from BOTH religious groups. So trying to make the case that their activities amount to some kind of anti-christian pogrom perpetrated from the express position of being muslim is foolish.

        • Actually, in the phrase “Muslim scum” (minus the histrionic caps), the word “Muslim” is the qualifier. Not the word “scum” (minus the histrionic caps).

      • You also conveniently have overlooked, in your PC zeal, that the area in which Boko Haram is operating is a predominately CHRISTIAN locale, and that all, or so I have read, of the kidnapped girls and murdered boys have been CHRISTIAN. Not Muslim. Considering the fact that Boko Haram is bent upon the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the area and the rest of the world, I think that we just MIGHT impugn a little bit of Islamic Extremism to them. I don’t think that they are Lutherans. Then again, any group that inflicts such torture as Lutefisk upon innocents must be terrorists.

        Please let us know when Evangelical Christians start killing indiscriminately whilst kidhaping young Muslim women to sell as slaves after they have been converted to Christianity.

        Refresh my memory. . . don’t Muslims feel that homosexuality is an abomination, and that those who practice it must be killed? I forget.

        ‘Moral Relativism’ be damned; There are some things that are just WRONG, and multiculturalism and diversity do not excuse them.

    • Muslim terrorist groups and muslim governments spread the” love ” around their friends. There is no equivalent in Christianity. Want to make a difference? Raise money and arm the oppressed Christians. If the mosque down the street can raise money for the “struggle” so can you.

      • No, former_water_walker, just no. No matter what your personal feelings are, throwing around phrases like ‘Muslim scum’ is disgusting and wrong. Bigoted s**t like that is just ammunition for the antis.
        Jeff, I know that Muslims have terrorised people for years but Christianity isn’t as squeaky-clean and angelic as you make out. In case you didn’t notice, Christianity continues to discriminate against gays.

        • Wow. Your moral-relativism gauge is defective, h’mmm? I can’t quite equate ‘Christians don’t fully embrace homosexuality. . .” with “I know, let’s massacre the neighbors because they’re NotMuslim.” “Gosh, I think that marriage is between a man and a woman!” i

        • Yes. Supporting civilized behavior (coming from a religious belief or by just having a brain) such as opposing sodomy, infanticide, and pederasty is the equivalent to the ongoing Mohammedan Jihad against the Western world.

        • There is no excuse for the lack of civility that Islam has shown in states like to Nigeria, Syria, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Russia, England Spain, USA, et al that can be made.

          If you excuse the incivility that Islam is showing to the entire world based on some behavior that occurred 3-4 centuries ago in response to ISLAM you are no better than they are.

          I would go further than calling Boko Haram scum, they are animals and as such should be put down.

    • I’m not going to tell former_water_walker what he can and can’t say. That’s his business. Me personally, I don’t use generalizations. What do they accomplish? Logic, facts, reason. Not generalizations.

      BUT…

      Good-hearted folks flying to the defense of Islam with the intent of snuffing out hate speech, while admirable and good-intentioned, should be wary. I’m not saying you’ve never read the Koran… but in the event that you might, just might, be defending an ideology you haven’t studied, it would serve you well to read it.

      Some human beings (the majority I would say but YMMV) will strive to be good people whether they are christians, jews, muslims, hindus, buddists, wiccans or satanists. They are good because good and evil are self-evident to them. On the flip side, others will use their respective religions to justify atrocities. I believe this paradigm would exist in some form irrespective of religious influence but that is only a personal theory.

      BUT…

      Just read the Koran. Really… sit down over the course of a week or two and read it. If you want to get serious, read a couple different translations of it. It will be a real eye opener. Go ahead and slam me if you like. When you’re done flaming me in the interest of political correctness, go buy a copy of the Koran and read it. I mean, if the world is filled with rainbows and unicorns, then what could be the harm in simply reading a religious text? Won’t that just make you a better-educated citizen of the world?

      I am not going to state the conclusions I came to about Islam after reading the Koran. Read it and form your own conclusions. All I will say, is that anyone who actually takes the time to read it will probably come to the same ones; they are REALLY self evident.

      99% of non-muslims who fly to that ideology’s defense haven’t even held a Koran, let alone read it. Do yourself a favor. Read it.

      • I’ve sat down and talked at length with American Muslims and even a few American Imams, and each time I did they struck me with just how much their desires seemed on the same level as the vast majority of law-abiding citizens: they just wanted to be left to live their own lives and not interfere or be interfered by others.

        Do I agree with the edicts and laws the Koran? No I don’t, but the whole idea of religious toleration is that we co-exist right up until the point where an individual (and remember that the actions of the individual do not drag down the group as a whole, otherwise gun-owners would be screwed) infringes upon the life, liberty or property of another and then society deals with that individual alone.

        How many Muslim gun-owners on this site have been alienated by sweeping generalizations against them? How many more supporters would the cause of the RtKaBA if we stopped taking every opportunity to bash them for the actions of the violent radicals? Can you imagine what it’s like for a law-abiding American Muslim to want to get into the gun-culture and find himself stymied not just by an overzealous government but by the constant derision and dirty looks from fellow gun owners?

        We have enough problems as it is without trying to alienate even more of our potential allies.

        • I wrote about Islam and the Koran. If you will read my comments more carefully, you will note that I did not say anything disparaging about either muslims or Islam itself. In fact, I believe I stated that most people are inherently good.

          However, relativism gone mad has led to the idea that all religions are the same. That is a mistake. Asking people to read the Koran to be aware of its content is not a knock on Muslims. It simply makes you situationally aware. Beyond that, I agree with you 100%. Tolerance, co-existence, acceptance and inclusiveness are good things.

          Read the Koran people.

    • The real scum, are those that prevent others from arming themselves. Seemingly a much bigger problem amongst post-Christians than still-Muslims.

      For all the shit those guys are getting from the Man on TV and his uncritical cheerleaders these days, I haven’t yet had a single Muslim do me any harm. None of them have demanded half my income at gunpoint. Nor barred me from kitting myself to realistically be able to say no if some should. Nor forced me to buy overpriced “health insurance” from their favorite donors. In fact, they have done me nothing wrong at all. Something I sure cannot say for the patron saints of those parroting the “Muslim Scum” lie the loudest.

      I really would have thought at least a group as targeted and harassed as gun enthusiast, would be able to keep their mind straight as pertains to who are the real threat in this day and age. But I guess I’m too optimistic.

  4. Can TTAG set-up a pay pal account that we can donate to? That way, the funds can go to purchase arms for the Nigerian people for their defense. Their internal military/police structure cannot do so, and the Nigerian government’s prohibition on the RKBA is an affront to liberty and human dignity.

    • I never said gun trafficking. Those were your words. As an American, I have a right to keep and bear arms. I want the Nigerians to have that same right, as I would want the same for all human beings.

      I was thinking something along the lines of:

      1) Raise money and awareness
      2) purchase AKs
      3) Attempt to arrange for the shipping and free distribution of the arms with the Government of Nigeria
      4) When Nigeria refuses (which they will) be sure to publicize that Nigeria would rather see their people murdered than armed.
      5) Use that to get the ball rolling for more funding and to foment dissent and civil disobedience within Nigeria. The desired end state being large-scale dissent leading to social change and the establishment of a RKBA in Nigeria.

      Lofty goals and a pipe dream, I know. BUT, at least some of us are brainstorming instead of being hateful, aka your previous post. You keep on being classy water walker.

  6. RKBA will do Nigerians no good. There is no will to rise above corruption and embrace a mindset of self-determination.

    They have been ruled by warlords and militants for so long not because weapons are not available (they are), but because they have no will to do what is necessary to change it.

    Most African countries will never be truly successful until this changes, and no amount of arms will help them until that point.

    • Actually, Nigera is a country made up of tribal cultures and each of those has a strong warrior tradition. Once they obtain weapons, and I think they will, Nigera will be as dangerous for warlords and corrupt politicians as it will be for Boko Haram. When citizens possess weapons, political structures undergo rapid changes.
      That’s a thought that probably terrifies the good governor addressed in the letter.

    • I was struck by the tone of supplication in the letter – these are not free, sovereign citizens, but rather are subjects. “Your state,” and “your agricultural production” speak volumes about the writer’s perception of the state / citizen relationship.

      • I took it to mean something different. As the letter is addressed to the governor, I took it as a way of reminding him that these are YOUR people, this is YOUR state, and this is YOUR responsibility to make sure YOUR people are not slaughtered. I didn’t take it so much as ownership of the people, but I see how it could be interpreted that way.

  7. Now that is what I call common sense.

    Guns are a big problem in the wrong hands it’s true.
    Problem goes away when they are in the right hands.

  8. My Constitutional Law professor’s one claim to fame was that he co-authored the Nigerian constitution.
    Since my nickname for him was, “The Merry Bolshevik”, I seriously doubt that the Nigerian constitution has anything resembling the rights acknowledged by Second Amendment in it.

  9. Applying 2nd amendment based solutions to Africa will not resolve this particular issue. I’d recommend reading Eeben Barlow’s blog on the such matters as African counter-insurgency at http://eebenbarlowsmilitaryandsecurityblog.blogspot.com/. (Links here are okay right?). While the right to bear arms in Nigeria might help the populace on the fringes of the conflict to protect themselves, it isn’t the silver bullet to stopping Boko Haram. And beyond that, there will be an escalation of violence that Boko Haram already has a head start in. They will literally burn down entire villages and kill everyone inside and are doing so now. And then, every time a village falls, Boko Haram will resupply from the captured weapons.

    • The second amendment isn’t about sweeping societal change though. It’s about individuals and their personal ability to defend their lives, liberty and property against those who would destroy them. The RtKaBA is not a right to be recognized in response to an endemic problem, but because it is inherent and requires enumeration.

      • I agree with you completely. But the systemic conflict of various African regions wont be solved just by an armed citizenry. If you want RKBA in Africa, then it can be done with a change of the law. If you want to maintain peace and rid the continent of organisations like Boko Haram and the Lord’s Army then you need something much more layered. Boko Haram already has the upper hand. Start delivering weapons to their victims and you’ll be painting a bullseye on those already at risk villages. And remember, people here in the US (as politically polarized as can be) are still essentially united under one common constitution that most everyone has adopted into their personal nationalism. Many tribes and political factions played no role in the formation of respective African constitutions and hold little but a tenuous obedience to it. Hell some of their own tribal identities were made up and enforced by colonial powers. God forbid there is a power vacuum or lack of will. That citizenry with weapons could (and has many times before) become the newest terrorist movement. Still, I agree with you in principle.

    • If Boko Haram is already burning villages to the ground and killing everyone, it’s difficult to see how arming the citizenry would be an escalation.

  11. No apologies given trolls. I was obviously referring to Boca Haram. Good to see support for my opinion. We in the west need to understand we truly are at war with Islam…” a religion of peace”. They would kill RF in an instant just for being Jewish. And I’m pretty sure homosexuals & Christians worldwide would be next. Have a nice PC day.

    • Water walker, the responses were to what you said. You’re the one who made it sectarian by saying Christians needed to arm and calling all Muslims scum (you can say that’s not what you meant, well it is what you said). From someone who used to think the same way until he actually got to know some Muslims(who are much more God-fearing than many Christians I know), you need to go meet a Muslim and talk to them. Pretty sure it will open your eyes.

  14. Give them guns and plenty of ammo, with the condition that they train others in the safe and effective use of firearms. If three out of five citizens had guns and knew how to use them, I’m pretty sure the wolves would pause before attacking at random. Why, it’s just crazy enough to work for any population.

  15. Boko Haram is just using their religion to promote making profits from any enterprises they see fit to enter , plus they use this to try to sate their need for violence over the people it seems that these folks are physcotic individuals , just taking out whatever they want on anyone or anything they want , time to break out the troops and arm the citizens against these vermin , and let them meet those supposed virgins when they die , but I don’t think it will virgins they will be meeting ! Be prepared and ready . Keep your powder dry .

  16. Really, people, this problem can be solved by the Moms Demand Something That Makes Us Feel Safe:

    Post “Gun Free Zone” signs all over Nigeria. See how easy that was? That’s OK, you don’t have to thank me …

    • I like your way of thinking. But, why stop there? If we had each member of Boko Haram submit to an NICS check before getting their AKM, then so many would be denied and prosecuted for even TRYING to get a gun that the group would wither on the vine, so to speak. Denied of guns in this manner, Borno State would be violence-free in mere days. Of course, they might get their guns from BATF, or at gun shows (where everyone KNOWS that 99 and 44/100ths percent of all illegal fully-automatic 30 caliber magazine-clip-bearing guns with things in the back that go up come from), or from straw purchasers. However, as those acts are all ILLEGAL, they would then be subject to severe penalties. In the meantime, the regular folks would be disarmed to prevent those Boko Haram guys from stealing THEIR guns and turning them on their owners, which happens 99 and 44/100ths percent of the time anyway.

      Brilliant!

  17. Good on Dr. Brimah making extremely clear that he wants to move through legal channels to arm Nigerian citizens but that the people will not sit by much longer if left defenseless. It’s always enheartening to see the lights flickering on in countries outside the US.

    Though I do wish the comments could be a bit more supportive of a fellow Person of the Gun and reign in the bizarre slew Muslim-bashing that sprang up. The RtKaBA is after all a great equalizer and one that should be and has been bringing disparate peoples together over the past year.

  18. Wow, talk about freaky coincidences — I just got an email from the widow of Nigeria’s former Minister of Banking.

  19. I know several Muslims. My kids doctors & my wife’s black Muslim relatives. All nice people. I’m sorry I upset your delicate sensibilities. They fear their moon god because they have no assurance of heaven. Unless they murder YOU in jihad. Like Nidal “workplace violence ” Hassan. God help you if you’re born a woman.

  21. As a YFWG (Young Fit White Guy) who grew up playing football and basketball with several families of Jordanian Arab immigrants, I find the comments here about Islam and Muslims absolutely nauseating. Those kids I grew up with are going to school to become doctors. My ROTC commander in high school was retired navy. Whenever a discussion turned to foreign policy and our enemies he used to remind us “They’re hard-working people who love their families, just like us.” Are Boko Haram murderers and bandits? Yes. Are all Muslims murderers and bandits? Are all Germans anti-Semitic fascists?

    • Keep in mind Islam as a religion is 500 years younger than Christianity. 500 years ago, The Crusades were ending and soon to come were the Spanish Inquisition, the Portuguese mini-Inquisition in India, and centuries of religious wars across Europe to determine which set of Christians was worshiping the right way. One of the more base-less Crusades occurred not in the Holy Land, but in Poland, when Catholic Teutonic Knights were sent to convert or kill the Orthodox Christian peasants. I’m a practicing Christian.

  22. Let me tell you guys about Islam. the majority of Muslims I know of have the decency to respect others, while the others are pigs that Allah will send to hell. I can validate this because i am a devout Muslim. When we interpreted the Koran in religion school, we were told by our teachers that some verses could be interpreted violently, even though they were written metaphorically with nonviolent intent. At least in America we are an armed people who don’t have to deal with radical insurgents, but those who do have islamist rats to deal with need arms, NOW. Unfortunately, the libtards who pass gun control don’t understand depriving us of arms will only allow crazies to START armed insurgency. I live in New York and have to rely on a Saiga 7.62 for defense, rather than an “evil” AK, even though they are the same gun at heart.

  23. Nigeria with a population of 160 million is potentially a large market for U.S arms dealers. It would be good if the N.R.A would find a way of lobbying the government into allowing citizens carry arms, but it also has to be noted that Nigeria being a nation with frequent violence due to mild provocations could spell serious doom if weapons are allowed to be carried freely. But also, notice has to be taken that armed robbers and other attackers will definitely think twice knowing they stand an equal chance with the ppl they wanna attack. Besides, violence may erupt for sometime due to slight provocations but ppl will definitely get tired of the violence and will seek peace.

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