The Nigeria Police Force has dismissed recent reports alleging that 3,907 firearms are missing from its armouries, stating that the claims are misleading and do not reflect the reality of the situation.
The Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in a statement issued today, emphasized that the allegations stemmed from a 2019 audit report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation and do not indicate an actual disappearance of arms.
This clarification follows a February 11 report, which detailed how the Senate Public Accounts Committee grilled the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, over discrepancies in police armoury records.
However, the police on Thursday maintained that such figures do not reflect the current status of their armouries, noting that weapons assigned to officers for operations may not always be present during audits.
He also highlighted that some arms were lost due to attacks on police formations, particularly during civil unrest, a point the police reiterated in their response.
