By Kolawole Ojebisi
The Nigeria Police Force has faulted recent reports alleging that 3,907 firearms are missing from its armouries, stating that the claims are misleading and do not reflect the reality of the situation.
The counterclaim is contained in a statement issued on Thursday, by the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi.
While making clarification Adejobi emphasised that the allegations stemmed from a 2019 audit report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation and do not indicate an actual disappearance of arms.
“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.
“The report states that 3,907 arms were ‘unaccounted for,’ not ‘missing,’ as speculated in the news,” Adejobi stated.
This clarification follows a February 11 report, which detailed how the Senate Public Accounts Committee grilled the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, over discrepancies in police armoury records.
During the hearing, the committee expressed concern that 178,459 firearms, including 88,078 AK-47 rifles, were allegedly missing from police formations across the country, citing findings from the Auditor-General’s 2019 audit report.
However, the police on Thursday, maintained that such figures do not reflect the current status of their armouries, noting that weapons assigned to officers for operations may not always be present during audits.
“We also note that when auditors conduct visits to our armouries, they may not find all arms present at the time due to the issuance of weapons to personnel for operational purposes, some spanning months, depending on the nature of such operations.
“Consequently, this may lead to misconceptions regarding the accuracy of audit reports,” Adejobi explained.
He also highlighted that some arms were lost due to attacks on police formations, particularly during civil unrest, a point the police reiterated in their response.
“It is important to acknowledge the challenges faced by the police during periods of civil unrest, where several officers were killed and their arms carted away.
“However, every effort has been made to recover these arms, and many have already been accounted for,” the police statement read.
Adejobi also clarified that Egbetokun was not present during the Senate’s discussion on the missing firearms, contrary to reports suggesting otherwise.
“The IGP was asked to take the usual oath and explain why he did not honour previous invitations by the committee.
“He responded to the satisfaction of the committee members and was thereafter excused, while the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Police Accounts and Budget, stayed back to answer the queries,” the statement clarified.
The Senate Committee has now postponed further hearings on the audit to Monday, February 17, 2025, allowing the police time to reconcile discrepancies in the records.
