‘Missing rifles’: IGP writes Senate, requests closed-door investigations

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, yesterday transmitted a letter to the Senate requesting that subsequent investigations into the alleged disappearance of 3,907 assault rifles be conducted behind closed doors for security reasons.

The IGP also dismissed the 2019 Audited Report by the Auditor-General for the Federation, which claimed that thousands of rifles were missing or unaccounted for in the police armory as of January 2020, describing it as inaccurate.

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The letter, which was read after the passage of the 2025 budget, by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, came 48 hours after a tough investigative hearing where police top officials including the IGP himself appeared before the Senate Committee on Accounts and struggled to provide answers  to the Auditor-General’s report on missing firearms.

In his letter read by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Egbetokun said, “We appreciate the Senate committee’s probe into the alleged missing firearms and urge the committee to conduct future hearings on sensitive security issues in camera so that the wrong impression is not created in the minds of Nigerians and the international community.

“Conducting hearings on these sensitive security issues behind closed doors will help prevent misinformation, protect national security interests, and allow for more candid discussions and fact-finding.”

The IGP also requested more time  to allow the Police to conduct internal investigations into the matter.

Daily Trust reports that following the failure of the Police top echelons to provide satisfactory answers to the allegations, the Senate had fixed next week Tuesday for continuation of the probe.

Reacting to the audit report yesterday, the spokesman of the force, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, told journalists in Abuja that every effort had been made to account for the arms that were taken, while many had been recovered back to the arms holding of the force at the moment.

He clarified that its arms were not missing as contained in the report by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF), rather it was carted away by the hoodlums during civil unrest.

It also said there has been no outrageous record of unaccounted or missing arms, as speculated in the 2019 report of the AuGF, despite some incidents that have been documented and managed, adding that Egbetokun was not the IG when the audit was conducted.