The Senate has been urged to look into the purported disappearance of 3,907 assault rifles behind closed doors for security reasons by Kayode Egbetokun, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).
The Auditor-General for the Federation’s 2019 Audited Report, which asserted that thousands of rifles were missing or unaccounted for in the police arsenal as of January 2020, was rejected by Egbetokun in a letter sent to the Senate, calling it false.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio read the letter following the passage of the 2025 budget. It was sent 48 hours after a rigorous investigative hearing in which senior police officers, including the IGP, appeared before the Senate Committee on Accounts and found it difficult to respond to the Auditor-General’s report on missing firearms.
In the letter, it is said that “We appreciate the Senate committee’s investigation into the alleged missing firearms and urge the committee to hold future hearings on sensitive security issues in camera so that the international community and Nigerians are not given the wrong impression.”
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“Haunting these delicate security matters behind closed doors will help prevent disinformation, safeguard national security interests, and enable more open dialogue and fact-finding.”
Additionally, the IGP asked the legislators to allow them additional time to look into the issue internally.
In response to yesterday’s audit report, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the force’s spokesperson, told reporters in Abuja that every attempt had been made to account for the weapons that were removed, but that many of them had been returned to the force’s current arms holdings.
