Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun came under fire from the Senate on Tuesday for saying that the Nigeria Police Force had not provided a satisfactory explanation for the 3,907 assault rifles and pistols that were allegedly missing from its arsenal as of January 2020 and that the police needed to account for the ammunition and weapons.
In response to the Auditor General for the Federation’s (AuGF) inquiry about “loss of firearms and ammunition,” Egbetokun went before the Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC). The Senate voiced dismay over the loss of 3,907 assault rifles across Nigerian police formations. The audit question was not sufficiently addressed by Egbetokun.
“The review of arms movement register, monthly returns of arms and ammunition, and ammunition register at the armoury section revealed that the total number of lost firearms as reported as at December 2018 stood at 178,459 pieces,” states AuGF representative Olu Samuel Godwin in the 2019 audit report.
There are 3,907 missing RAFFLES from the police arsenal.
The Senate’s decision came after the Federation’s auditor general asked the topic in the 2019 Annual Audited Report.
88,078 AK-47 rifles were among the 178,459 firearms that were reported missing as of December 2018, according to the auditor general’s report.
In contrast to a schedule from the same police agency that showed 46 missing firearms between 2000 and 2019, the auditor general claimed that records from Force Armament at Force headquarters showed that 21 Police Mobile Force Squadron, Abuja, did not disclose any missing firearms.
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Only 15 of the 3,907 lost firearms listed in the auditor general’s report had a plausible explanation from the police, and they could only account for missing rifles up until 1998.
Following that, the Police pleaded for a private meeting, but the Senate Committee flatly refused.
After that, the officers pleaded for more time so they could fully investigate the matter and get back to them.
Information will be available shortly.
