The Nigeria Police Force has dismissed recent allegations that 3,907 firearms are missing from its armouries, describing the claims as misleading and an inaccurate reflection of the reality on the ground.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, clarified that the allegations stemmed from a 2019 audit report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation and did not imply an actual disappearance of weapons.
“The report appears to stem from an assessment of the 2019 audit, which likely reflects records compiled before the tenure of the current Inspector-General of Police,” Adejobi explained. “It states that 3,907 arms were ‘unaccounted for,’ not ‘missing,’ as speculated in the media.”
This clarification comes after a February 11 report detailed how the Senate Public Accounts Committee questioned the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, regarding discrepancies in police armoury records. During the hearing, the committee expressed concern over the alleged disappearance of 178,459 firearms, including 88,078 AK-47 rifles, from police formations nationwide, based on findings from the Auditor-General’s 2019 audit report.
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| Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun |
However, the police refuted the claims, asserting that such figures do not represent the current status of its armouries. Adejobi explained that weapons assigned to officers for operations may not always be present during audits, leading to misinterpretations of records.
“During audit inspections, some weapons may be in the field, issued to personnel for operational duties, some of which last for months, depending on the nature of the operation,” Adejobi stated. “This could result in discrepancies in the audit report.”
He also pointed out that some weapons were lost due to attacks on police formations, particularly during civil unrest. “It is important to acknowledge the challenges faced by the police during periods of civil disorder, when officers were killed, and arms were looted,” he noted. “However, significant efforts have been made to recover these arms, and many have already been accounted for.”
Adejobi further clarified that Egbetokun’s appearance before the Senate Committee was to address concerns about previous invitations. The Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Accounts and Budget, Abdul Sulaiman, remained to respond to audit queries.
The Senate Committee has postponed further hearings on the audit to February 17, 2025, giving the police additional time to reconcile discrepancies. The police also expressed concern over what they described as “misinformation aimed at undermining public confidence in law enforcement.”
