The Nigeria Police Force has dismissed recent reports alleging that 3,907 firearms are missing from its armories, stating that the claims are misleading and do not reflect the reality of the situation. In a statement issued by the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the Force 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.

However, the police on Thursday, maintained that such figures do not reflect the current status of their armories, noting that weapons assigned to officers for operations may not always be present during audits. Adejobi noted that when auditors conduct visits to the Force armories, they might not find all arms present at the time due to the issuance of weapons to personnel for operational purposes, some spanning months, depending on the nature of such operations.

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. The Force PRO added that it is important to acknowledge the challenges faced by the police during periods of civil unrest, where several officers were killed and their arms carted away.

Adejobi also clarified that Egbetokun was not present during the Senate’s discussion on the missing firearms, contrary to reports suggesting otherwise. He asserted that the IG had only appeared briefly before the committee on Tuesday to address concerns about previous invitations, after which the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Accounts and Budget, Abdul Sulaiman, remained to respond to audit queries.

The Senate Committee has now postponed further hearings on the audit to Monday, February 17, 2025, allowing the police time to reconcile discrepancies in the records. Meanwhile, the police have expressed concern over what they described as misinformation aimed at undermining public confidence in law enforcement.

Also, the FPRO emphasised that these issues of missing arms from 2019 and 2020 do not in any way relates to the tenure of the current IG, Egbetokun.