Senate has summoned Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun, over the alleged disappearance of 3,907 rifles and pistols from the Nigeria Police Force’s armoury.
The lawmakers on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction with the police’s explanation and insisted that they must account for the missing arms and ammunition.
The Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) grilled Egbetokun over an audit query raised by the Auditor-General for the Federation (AuGF) on the “loss of firearms and ammunition.”
The senators expressed concern over the 3,907 missing firearms across various police formations nationwide.
According to Olu Samuel Godwin, representing the AuGF, the 2019 audit report showed that as of December 2018, 178,459 firearms were unaccounted for.
“The total number of lost firearms as reported as at December 2018 stood at 178,459 pieces,” he stated.
The report further disclosed that 88,078 of the missing firearms were AK-47 rifles. The auditor-general’s records also revealed discrepancies in police reports.
While the Force Armament unit at Force Headquarters indicated that the 21 Police Mobile Force Squadron in Abuja had no missing firearms, another document from the same department listed 46 missing arms between 2000 and 2019.
In response, the police attempted to account for missing rifles dating back to 1998 but could only provide explanations for 15 out of the 3,907 missing firearms flagged in the report.
The police then requested a closed session to discuss the matter, but the Senate Committee rejected the plea.
The police subsequently asked for more time to conduct a thorough investigation and report back to the committee.
