IGP Olatunji Disu orders Nigerian police to shoot on sight illegal firearms carriers, invoking Force Order 237 at a Makurdi meeting Friday.
Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu directed police officers across the country to shoot on sight anyone found carrying illegal firearms, at a meeting held at the Government House in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
Disu stated the directive followed President Bola Tinubu’s instruction that the lingering security crisis in Benue State must be brought to an end. He maintained that only authorized security personnel are legally permitted to carry firearms.
“The era of passive policing is over,” Disu told those present. “You cannot move around freely carrying arms as if there were no law and order in this country. It will not be tolerated,” he said.
Disu explained the directive was backed by Force Order 237, which empowers police officers to respond immediately to armed threats without waiting for approval from superior officers. Officers, he said, no longer require clearance before deploying their firearms.
“We have given them instructions. We have a Force Order 237. Police officers have been instructed that they don’t need to wait for any superior order. They know where to deploy their firearms,” Disu stated.
Reaffirming the directive, Disu added, “They have been instructed to shoot at sight. They have been trained to do what is necessary. But we will not succeed without the cooperation of all of you.”
Disu told those at the meeting that the decision was also informed by the increasing number of casualties among security personnel in the line of duty. His words reflected a direct reference to losses across multiple agencies.
“We are tired of losing our men. We are tired of police officers, soldiers, and other members of the security agencies dying anyhow,” Disu said, according to The Punch’s report of the meeting.
Disu urged Nigerians to support security agencies with credible intelligence, saying public cooperation is essential to tackling armed crime and improving national security. He addressed that appeal directly to those in the room.
He called on residents to support security agencies by providing timely and credible intelligence, describing community cooperation as essential to combating armed criminality. No specific timeline for the directive was stated at the meeting.
Benue State has experienced repeated attacks by armed groups in recent months, resulting in numerous deaths, the displacement of thousands of residents, and widespread destruction of property.
The federal government has since intensified security operations in Benue State as part of broader efforts to restore peace. Friday’s meeting formed part of that federal response.
The directive, issued during the meeting at the Government House in Makurdi, forms part of intensified efforts to curb rising insecurity, particularly in states affected by recurring violent attacks. Disu did not specify which other states fell within the scope of the order.
Disu signaled a departure from what he described as an era of passive policing, ordering officers nationwide to open fire on anyone found in possession of illegal firearms. The directive represents one of the starkest public statements of operational intent from the force’s leadership in recent memory. Force Order 237 provides the legal framework for that response, and Disu’s invocation of it was deliberate, positioning the instruction not as a policy preference but as a standing legal authority that officers are now expected to enforce without hesitation.
Disu made clear that only authorized security personnel are legally permitted to carry firearms and warned that the unlawful possession of weapons would face immediate consequences. The message was addressed as much to the public as to the officers tasked with carrying it out. The directive applies across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, leaving no jurisdictional gaps through which armed non-state actors might expect a different response depending on their location.
