IGP comes under fire in Senate over missing 3,907 guns from police armoury
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The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun has faced intense scrutiny in the Senate regarding 3,907 assault rifles and pistols allegedly missing from the Nigeria Police Force armoury as of January 2020.
Egbetokun, represented by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (Budget), Abdul Suleiman, on Tuesday appeared before the Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) to address an audit query issued by the Auditor-General for the Federation (AuGF), failed to provide satisfactory answers about the missing weapons.
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The representative of the Auditor-General, Olu Samuel Godwin, cited findings from the 2019 audit report, revealing that a total of 178,459 firearms were unaccounted for as of December 2018. This figure included 88,078 AK-47 rifles.
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The report highlighted that discrepancies were noted in records from the Force Armament at Police Headquarters, Abuja, where the Police Mobile Force Squadron failed to report any missing firearms, despite records showing 46 missing weapons between 2000 and 2019.
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In response, police representatives could only account for 15 of the 3,907 missing rifles flagged in the audit report. They requested a closed-door session to discuss the matter, but the Senate Committee rejected the plea.
Senator Victor Umeh criticised the police for failing to recover the missing weapons in the face of rising insecurity across the country.
He argued that “Thousands of AK-47s are missing at a time when insecurity is at its peak. The police should have been able to trace these arms. If over 3,900 rifles are unaccounted for, it means our security is compromised. Claiming it’s a ‘security issue’ without providing answers only raises more concerns.”
After a voice vote which went in favour of the majority, the session continued overtly.
The police explained that some of the weapons were derived from officers killed while their weapons were carted away. He says no arms were unaccounted for.
The Committee on Public Accounts declared dissatisfaction with the explanations, again summoning the IGP to again before the committee on Monday.
The Senate reiterated the need for the Nigeria Police Force to account for all missing weapons, emphasizing the critical importance of proper firearm management for national security.
The committee vowed to continue its investigation until satisfactory answers are provided, underscoring the gravity of the issue and its implications for public safety.
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