By Miracle Ogunde
The Nigeria Police Force has refuted claims that 3,907 firearms have gone missing from its armouries, describing such reports as misleading and inconsistent with the actual situation.
In a statement on Thursday, the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, clarified that the allegations stem 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.
His remarks follow a February 11 report detailing how the Senate Public Accounts Committee questioned the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, over discrepancies in police armoury records.
During the hearing, the committee raised concerns that 178,459 firearms, including 88,078 AK-47 rifles, were allegedly unaccounted for in police formations across the country, citing findings from the Auditor-General’s 2019 audit.
However, in its response, the police insisted that these figures do not reflect the current state of its armouries, stressing that weapons assigned to officers for operations may not always be physically 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 pointed out that some firearms were lost during attacks on police formations, particularly during episodes of civil unrest, a challenge the force has continually sought to address.
“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 further clarified that contrary to reports, Egbetokun was not present during the Senate’s discussion on the audit report concerning the missing firearms.
He explained that the Inspector-General had only made a brief appearance before the committee on Tuesday to address concerns over previous invitations before leaving the session, while the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Accounts and Budget, Abdul Sulaiman, remained to respond to the audit queries.
“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 rescheduled further hearings on the audit for Monday, February 17, 2025, allowing the police time to reconcile discrepancies in the records.
Meanwhile, the police have expressed concern over what they described as misinformation aimed at undermining public confidence in law enforcement.
“The proliferation of misinformation, especially against institutions like the Nigeria Police, has far-reaching consequences, including compromising public safety, damaging reputations, and hindering the NPF’s ability to effectively maintain law and order,” Adejobi warned.
Additionally, he reiterated that the issue of missing arms from 2019 and 2020 does not relate in any way to the tenure of the current Inspector-General of Police, Egbetokun.
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