The Senate came down heavily on the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, at the National Assembly complex over 3,907 missing assault rifles, as revealed in the 2020 report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, AuGF.

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, apologised to the Senate Committee on Public Accounts for failing to honour previous invitations to explain queries raised against the police regarding alleged financial infractions in the 2019 audit report.

After his apology and oath-taking, Egbetokun nominated Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG, in charge of Public Accounts and Budget, Suleiman Abdul, to respond to the eight queries issued against the police by the Auditor-General’s office.

The committee, chaired by its Deputy Chairman, Senator Peter Nwaebonyi (APC, Ebonyi North), vacated the first query, which concerned N1.136 billion in contract splitting, and stood down the second, which related to the alleged non-execution of a N925 million contract. However, it sustained the third query regarding the alleged disappearance of 3,907 assault rifles, many of which were AK-47s.

Trouble arose for the police when a representative of the Auditor-General read the query aloud to committee members and AIG Suleiman Abdul. According to the 2019 audit report, as of January 2020, a total of 3,907 assault rifles were unaccounted for.

According to the Auditor-General’s representative, “The total number of lost firearms as of December 2018 stood at 178,459, out of which 88,078 were AK-47 rifles.

“However, as of January 2020, based on a thorough audit, 3,907 assault rifles and pistols across different police formations could not be accounted for.”

He further broke down the missing firearms as follows: 601 from 15 training institutions, 42 from 23 police formations, 1,514 from 37 police commands, 29 from Zones 1 to 12, and 1,721 from the Police Mobile Force, PMF, units 1 to 68.

Irked by the report, committee members bombarded the police team with questions about why the queries had remained unanswered for so long.

In response, neither AIG Suleiman Abdul nor any of his lieutenants could provide the committee with a convincing explanation for the missing 3,907 assault rifles.

Apparently overwhelmed by the barrage of questions, AIG Abdul requested a closed-door session, but the majority of the committee members—including Deputy Chairman Nwaebonyi, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, and Senator Joel Onawakpo-Thomas—rejected the request.

Rejecting the request outright, Senator Nwaebonyi stated: “This is a public accounts committee that has no room for closed-door sessions. In the United States of America, proceedings of Public Accounts Committees are televised live. So, whatever response the AIG wants to give on the missing assault rifles should be made in full view of everyone, particularly journalists.”

Senator Oshiomhole also rejected the request, saying: “The police are known for arresting and parading thieves of rats and rabbits, so we expect the same level of diligence regarding the missing assault rifles.

“The AIG should let Nigerians know what steps the police have taken over the years concerning the missing rifles, who was involved, and the extent of any recoveries made.”

In his feeble response, AIG Abdul could only account for 15 out of the 3,907 missing rifles—14 of which, he claimed, were lost when personnel were killed in active service, while one went missing in 1998. This response further infuriated the committee members.

For a soft landing, the committee resolved that the AIG and his team should return with a more thorough response to the query, stating that the matter would not be swept under the carpet.

The committee consequently directed them to reappear on Monday next week at 12 noon and suspended consideration of the remaining five queries.