The Nigeria Police Force says recent reports on allegation of missing 178,549 firearms from the force is misleading and inaccurate.
This is contained in a statement on Thursday in Abuja by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi.
Adejobi said that the clarification followed reports in some sections of the media alleging that firearms, comprising 3,907 AK-47 arms were missing from the Nigeria Police Force armories.
The reports in some sections of the media, followed queries by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts while adopting Auditor General Report 2019.
“As of December 2018, a total of 178,459 firearms were unaccounted for, including 88,078 AK-47 rifles. Additionally, as of January 2020, at least 3,907 assorted rifles and pistols remained missing,” the report stated.
An audit of police records further revealed that, out of the 3,907 firearms listed as missing, only 15 cases involved officers who died or sustained injuries while losing their weapons.
The FPRO said that the allegation appeared to stem from an assessment of the report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) dating back to 2019.
Meanwhile the IGP Egbetokun has urged the Senate to make the conduct of investigation on the alleged missing firearms a closed session for security reasons.
Mr Egbetokun stated this in a letter addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and read at plenary on Thursday.
He commended the Senate’s efforts to conduct a thorough investigation on the alleged missing firearms.
“We appreciate the Senate committee’s probe into the alleged missing firearms,” said Mr Egbetokun. “We urge the committee to conduct future hearings on sensitive security issues in camera so that wrong impression will not be created in the minds of Nigerians and the minds of the international community.”
Mr Egbetokun stated that this would ensure national security and prevent misinformation. NAN
