The dual-purpose use of tasers without regulation across Nigeria raises concerns.
Sometime in February 2025, a criminal gang held Mary Aderemi after she boarded a taxi in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital.
The incident occurred around 1 pm. Ms Aderemi had entered an ash-coloured Volkswagen taxi around the Churchgate area of the city. She needed to get to her lecture centre early to continue preparing for her accounting certification exam.
The car stopped at different intervals to pick up three other passengers. Unknown to her, these passengers were accomplices of the driver who would later make her go through hell.
“The glasses were wound up as the last person entered; that was when I knew it was a tinted vehicle and sensed something was amiss,” she recalled. “Next minute, one brought out a knife, while another put forward a taser. The third man also had a gun with him.”
Ms Aderemi said the man next to her started hitting her, while another brought out a taser and used it on her. She became paralysed.
“Immediately the taser was applied to me, my hands were paralysed! I couldn’t move it for some time. They went ahead to tie and blindfold me, carrying me around Abuja. They said they would take me to the dreadful Kaduna road if I didn’t cooperate with them,” she told DUBAWA.
They seized her phone, withdrew over N100,000 from her bank account, and used one of her details to borrow money from a loan app. Despite submitting a court affidavit and police report, the loan app still pesters her for repayment.
Across many parts of Nigeria, there lies a growing public security risk as the absence of laws regulating taser sale and use has created a loophole exploited by criminals, who now have easier access to these potentially lethal devices.
A taser is a device that can be used as a weapon to incapacitate people with about 50,000 volts of electric shock. It is often used by trained security personnel to subdue people they deem to be behaving aggressively.
It is also used as a means of self-defence by citizens in many countries. Its dual-purpose use, for good or evil, makes its regulation essential.
DUBAWA’s investigation revealed that tasers are now readily available to Nigerians, who can acquire and carry them with ease. Despite the relative ease of purchase, there is currently no regulation on their use.
A review of the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons Act (2021), the country’s legislation aimed at controlling the proliferation and illicit trade of weapons, shows that the law is silent on the use of tasers.
Similarly, the Nigerian Criminal Code did not specifically mention tasers but identified what it called “offensive weapons.”
According to the law, offensive weapons include “any article, apart from a firearm, made or adapted for use for causing injury.” Listed as examples are items such as an air gun, air pistol, bow and arrow, spear, cutlass, matchet, dagger, cudgel, or any piece of wood, metal, glass, or stone capable of being used as an offensive weapon.
The laws prescribe the crime of felony and three years’ imprisonment for anyone found guilty of using offensive weapons.
DUBAWA presented our findings to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons and asked if they were aware of the common availability of tasers, but has yet to hear from the agency.
However, responding to a December 2022 post by an X user on whether tasers are allowed for use by individuals, Muyiwa Adejobi, the then spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force, said: “For now, the law of Nigeria doesn’t permit individuals to own these items. It is a matter of law, not an opinion, please.”
DUBAWA attempted to clarify which law the police officer was referring to, but calls and text messages to Mr Adejobi and Josephine Adeh, the police spokesperson for the Federal Capital Territory, for further comments on the issue went unanswered.
George Anasam, an Abuja-based lawyer, explained that Nigerian law is silent on the general position of tasers in Nigeria and as such it may be sold but should not be used to commit a crime.
“There is no law that prohibits you from possessing tasers in Nigeria as it doesn’t fall under items that are categorically mentioned in the country’s laws of firearms as a weapon,” Mr Anasam said. “Tasers can be sold to Nigerians. But what would matter afterwards is the use and application of it by Nigerians. That is what would constitute an offence or otherwise.”
Some Nigerians purchase tasers to defend themselves against unwanted attacks.
One such person, @Sdq_Solution, narrated on X how a motor park worker almost removed the side mirror of his car after he refused to give him money.
The X user said the incident occurred while he was driving around the overhead bridge in the Abule Egba area of Lagos State. The unidentified park worker moved to harm him, but he pulled out a taser and used it to defend himself.
“I tase him like 3 times [because] I was really angry, na the LASTMA wey dey there beg me to go cos I don cause traffic, the werey no fit move him body for ground,” he wrote in Pidgin English.
Like the X user, Oloye Oloyede, a resident of the Mararaba area of Nasarawa State, told DUBAWA that he bought a taser in anticipation of using it for self-defence.
He explained that he decided to buy the taser in 2023, bearing in mind that private car owners in the country are prone to attacks and the lack of any defensive tool around victims often worsen its severity.
“I have a taser, but I have not used it before. The attackers always try to catch their victims unaware. Tasers help for self-defence because one can use it against street urchins or touts, but I’ve not used it against anyone,” he said.
DUBAWA also spoke with five other Nigerians who disclosed buying tasers for the purpose of using them for self-defence, although many said incidents of usage are rare.
In some countries such as the United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK), tasers are considered a defensive tool for many people to protect themselves against unwarranted attacks, mostly in situations such as sexual assault and nighttime robbery. However, this comes with heavy regulation.
