A viral post by Bayelsa social commentator Bayelsa Cruise Merchant (@KingErefitei) has sparked heated reactions online after he criticized Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Christopher Musa’s call for Nigerians to learn martial arts like Taekwondo and Judo as self-defense against insecurity.
Quoting the case of Adamawa farmer Sunday Jackson, who was sentenced to death for killing his Fulani assailant in self-defense, the activist wrote, X: “The guy who defended himself against a Fulani terrorist was sentenced to death by a judge.”
Jackson, who was violently attacked and stabbed by a Fulani herdsman, managed to overpower his assailant and turned the knife on him in 2015.
He was arrested, tried, and eventually sentenced to death in 2021, a verdict upheld by the Supreme Court earlier this year despite glaring constitutional breaches and what legal analysts described as “a textbook miscarriage of justice.”
The reminder of Jackson’s ordeal has intensified backlash against the CDS, who had argued during a Channels Television interview that martial arts training should be treated as a survival skill like driving or swimming.
“That one should be taken as learning driving, learning how to swim. Whether we have war or not, it is a survival instinct,” General Musa said.
Critics online quickly pounced on the irony, arguing that Nigerians who defend themselves risk being criminalized by the very system that fails to protect them.
Summerville ISLE (@KaroBlvk) added, “The man who defended himself against armed men on black breaking into his house was arrested later that they were EFCC … Armed robbers n kidnappers having a field day because homeowners can’t differentiate them from police.”
Forkniser (@erondu_reuben) questioned the advice, writing, “Fulani herdsmen are moving with AK-47s. Meanwhile, our COAS says we should learn taekwondo. Please, are the soldiers in Sambisa fighting the insurgents with karate skills?”
The outrage reflects deep frustration with Bola Tinubu’s government over worsening insecurity, rising attacks by armed herdsmen, and a justice system seen as hostile to victims who attempt to defend themselves.
For many Nigerians, the death sentence hanging over Jackson symbolizes the dangers of taking the CDS’s advice literally, as state institutions appear unwilling to distinguish self-defense from crime.
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