A tense session unfolded on Tuesday at the Senate Committee on Public Accounts as Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Suleiman Abdul was grilled over the disappearance of 3,907 assault rifles, primarily AK-47s.
Representing the Inspector General of Police (IGP), AIG Abdul listened intently as a representative of the Auditor-General for the Federation presented the 2019 Audit Query. The report revealed that as of January 2020, the police could not account for the missing rifles.
Earlier in the session, IGP Kayode Egbetokun personally appeared before the committee to apologize for failing to honor previous invitations. After taking an oath, he delegated AIG Abdul, who oversees Public Accounts and Budget, to respond to the eight queries raised by the Auditor-General’s office.
The committee, chaired by Deputy Chairman Senator Peter Nwaebonyi (Ebonyi North), dismissed the first query concerning N1.136 billion in contract splitting and temporarily set aside the second query on an unexecuted N925 million contract. However, it upheld the third query regarding the missing 3,907 assault rifles.
According to the audit report, the total number of lost firearms stood at 178,459 as of December 2018, including 88,078 AK-47 rifles. By January 2020, a forensic audit confirmed that 3,907 rifles and pistols across various police formations were still unaccounted for. The breakdown showed:
601 firearms missing from 15 training institutions
42 firearms missing from 23 police formations
1,514 firearms missing from 37 police commands
29 firearms missing from zones 1–12
1,721 firearms missing from Police Mobile Force (PMF) units 1–68
The revelation provoked a barrage of questions from committee members, demanding explanations for the failure to address the issue earlier. However, AIG Abdul and his team struggled to provide satisfactory responses.
Faced with mounting pressure, Abdul requested a closed-door session, but his request was firmly rejected. Senator Nwaebonyi insisted on transparency, stating, “This is a public accounts committee; there is no room for secrecy. In the United States, such proceedings are televised live. The AIG must respond openly, especially in the presence of journalists.”
Echoing this sentiment, Senator Adams Oshiomhole criticized the police for their approach, remarking, “The police are quick to arrest and parade petty thieves, yet they cannot account for thousands of missing assault rifles. Nigerians deserve to know what steps have been taken, who is responsible, and what progress has been made in recovering these weapons.”
In his response, AIG Abdul could only account for 15 of the missing rifles—14 lost by officers killed in action and one dating back to 1998. His response further angered the committee members, who viewed it as inadequate.
To ensure accountability, the committee directed the police team to refine their responses and return for another hearing. They were ordered to reappear on Monday at 12 noon, as the matter would not be overlooked. Meanwhile, deliberations on the remaining five audit queries were temporarily suspended.
