Police dismisses reports on missing 3,907 arms

The Nigeria Police Force has dismissed reports on the missing 3,907 arms as inaccurate.

The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Olumuyiwa Adejobi, made the clarification in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

Reports in some sections of the media had alleged that 3,907 arms were missing from the police armories.

The reports followed queries by the Senate Committee on Public Accounts.

Adejobi said: “The allegation stemmed from an assessment of the report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) in 2019.

“In the report, according to Issue 3b, Sub (iii), it is stated that 3,907 arms were unaccounted for and not ‘missing’ as speculated by the news.

“It is important to acknowledge the challenges faced by the police during periods of civil unrest, when several Police Officers are killed and their arms carted away.

READ ALSO: Police debunk reports on return of disbanded SARS

“It is also, important to note that some attacks and looting of police facilities and armories had resulted to loss of arms.

“However, every effort has been made to account for the arms that were taken, with many recovered back to the arms holding of the force at the moment.

“Throughout our audits, there has been no outrageous record of unaccounted or missing arms, as speculated in the 2019 report of the AuGF, in spite of some incidences that have been documented and managed.

“The force has earlier defended the audit queries, with the hope that it help in reconciling the discrepancies in the reports.

“However, the hearing session presided over by the Senate Committee on Public Account has been postponed to Feb. 17 to give ample time for a proper cross analysis of records.”

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