By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) on Tuesday queried the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, represented by the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of account and budget, Abdul Sulaiman, over alleged missing 178,459 firearms.

According to the Auditor General of the Federation, Shaakaa Kanyitor Chira, in his 2019 audit report being considered by Senate Committee, the 178,459 firearms, mostly AK-47 rifles, were lost by the Nigeria Police Force commands and formations across the country.

Out of the number, “88,078 were AK-47 rifles,” according to Chira who was represented by Samuel Godwin.

The report also said that similarly, as of January 2020, over 3,907 firearms could not be accounted for, according to the arms movement register and return of firearm records reviewed by the office of the AuGF.

On Tuesday, the committee sat to consider audit queries issued to police by the AGoF.

The AuGF’s 2019 audit report indicated that the firearms were “lost” and “unaccounted” for, covering the period 2000 to 2020.

A series of audit queries raised on the same matter over the years were unreplied to and kept recurring in the AuGF’s reports.

According to the report: the total number of lost firearms as at December 2018, stood at 179,459 pieces.

“Out of this number, 88,078 were AK-47 rifles.

3,907 assorted rifles and pistols across different police formations could not be accounted for as at January, 2020.”

IGP Egbetokun was summoned by the SPAC to appear before it on Tuesday or risk being arrested.

He honoured the invitation and appeared before the committee at the National Assembly.

Egbetokun, after granting the lawmakers due honours and explaining his inability to appear earlier didn’t amount to a deliberate act of disrespect for them, nominated the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) in Charge of Budgets, Mr. Abdul Suleiman to represent him.

Egbetokun was then excused to go and attend to other official matters by the panel.

The SPAC had eight audit queries against the police, including a case of contract splitting involving the sum of N1.1billion.

However, the query that generated interest was that on the firearms, mostly AK-47 rifles, said to be unaccounted for across police formations and commands in the country.

The acting Chairman of the committee, Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, while expressing shock over the development, noted that cases of arms freely available in the wrong hands were contributing heavily to the insecurity in the country.

Nwebonyi said: “This is part of the insecurity we are having in Nigeria today.

“If this number of firearms is in the hands of enemies, that means we are not safe. Even the police are not safe.

“Again, these firearms, rifles were procured with taxpayers’ money and Nigerians have a right to know what happened to them. The public should know the whereabouts of these arms.”

AIG Sulaiman, assisted by other senior police officers, while being grilled by senators, explained that some of the arms were lost in either robbery incidents or that the policemen were killed by criminals and their arms carted away.

Sulaiman also said although the police painstakingly investigated cases reported by the commands/formations, there were those not reported but the authorities always followed up on them.

However, when the committee studied the records presented by the police, members realised that only 15 policemen either died or sustained injuries and were recorded as losing their arms in the process, out of the 3,907 unaccounted for.

Coming under a barrage of sustained questioning by the committee, AIG Sulaiman appealed for more time to enable the police authorities to submit a compressive report on the investigations, findings on the status of the firearms.

To me, no firearm is unaccounted for. We will appeal to the committee to give us more time. We will submit a full report”, Sulaiman said.

In his contribution, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, said what the lawmakers had expected to hear from the police was for them to admit that these arms were indeed lost and penalties had been meted out to the offending policemen, especially those who might have sold them to criminals.

Oshiomhole said: “The least we expect is for you to tell us that the arms have been traced to officers who were responsible.

“They must be arrested and paraded just like the police do to ordinary Nigerians. There should be no two sets of laws for different people in Nigeria.

“The arms were procured to take care of Nigerians. Yet they have been taken away by someone.

“The police must account for those arms and whoever was in charge, has to be prosecuted according to the law. We will not waive this one.”

The SPAC, apparently not satisfied with the explanations given by the police, asked the IG’s team to reappear again on Monday.