The Nigeria Police Force has expressed surprise and deep concerns regarding recent news alleging that 3,907 arms are missing from the force. In a statement, the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, described the allegations as “misleading and inaccurate”.

The statement explained that the report appears to stem from an assessment of the report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, AuGF, dating back to 2019, likely reflecting records compiled prior to the current Inspector-General of Police’s tenure. Adejobi noted that the report stated that 3,907 arms were unaccounted for, not “missing” as speculated by the news.

The police attributed discrepancies to periods of civil unrest, during which several police officers were killed and their arms carted away, and some attacks and looting of police facilities and armories, resulting in the loss of arms. However, every effort has been made to account for the arms that were taken, while many have been recovered back to the arms holding of the force at the moment.

Olumuyiwa Adejobi also emphasized that the police have a statutory and annual internal auditing process, which includes stringent measures to ensure controlled movement and proper accountability of arms. Throughout their audits, there has been no outrageous record of unaccounted or missing arms, as speculated in the 2019 report of the AuGF.

The Senate Public Accounts Committee conducted an inquiry on Tuesday with Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun regarding the issue of missing firearms. During the session, Egbetokun expressed regret for not attending previous meetings, attributing his absence to the demands of his role.

Adejobi clarified that the IGP appeared briefly before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, to address prior invitation snubs before departing, leaving the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Police Accounts and Budget, to answer the queries of the committee.

The Senate Committee has scheduled another meeting with the IGP for February 17, 2025, to present a detailed report on the missing firearms and the contract issues.