President Bola Tinubu’s special adviser on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has described vandals and thieves as the worst species of citizens who should be shot dead on sight.

“Just shoot these unconscionable vandals/thieves at sight,” Mr Onanuga wrote on X while reacting to a video showing the activities of vandals cutting iron rods used in road construction. “They are the worst species of citizenships.”

Mr Onanuga’s call for extrajudicial measures against vandals and thieves runs parallel to the Nigerian Miscellaneous Offences Act, which stipulates punishment for vandals caught destroying public infrastructure.

The law provides that, on conviction, they are liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, without the option of a fine.

Section (6) (a and b) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, stipulates, “Any person, who for any purpose whatsoever, wilfully, unlawfully or maliciously causes any damage or authorises any damage to any highway and fails, refuses or neglects to repair such highway on completion of any work, if any, thereon; or destroys, removes or damages any guard rail or other structure on any highway, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years without the option of a fine.”

Legal practitioners have condemned Mr Onanuga’s statement, describing it as reckless, a “call to anarchy” and “extrajudicial killing” that has no basis in law.

Inibehe Effiong, a lawyer and human rights activist, on Sunday told Peoples Gazette, “Bayo Onanuga’s comment is very reckless. We should ask him whether corrupt politicians should also be shot on sight.

“If we are going to have a summary of those committing crimes, then it should apply across boards. It should start from political elites vandalising the economy of our country, stealing endlessly from the public treasury.”

He added, “For people engaged in vandalism, there is a process of law to deal with them. They should be arrested and prosecuted. But to call for summary execution of suspected vandals is the height of irresponsibility on the part of Bayo Onanuga.”

Mr Effiong explained that Mr Onanuga’s statement has no “basis in law,” adding, “Even those accused of treason cannot be summarily executed under the worst military dictatorship. They will still be tried. Even in a state of war, like in Ukraine and Russia, where they still have international and humanitarian law that dictates how enemy combatants are to be treated.”

Also, Deji Adeyanju, a lawyer and activist, in a telephone call with The Gazette on Sunday, said Mr Onanuga’s statement “is a call to anarchy and lawlessness. There is no such law in Nigeria. How does one resort to such self-help as if we are in a banana republic?”

“That shows you the quality of people around the president. People who don’t have brains. People who are bereft of ideas, sanity and humanity. You can see how they are running the country around.

“These are people who are not fit to be SA in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. It is a call to extrajudicial killing. Ironically, these are people condemning Nnadmid Kanu. How is Onanuga different from Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho?”