The Nigeria Police Force has claimed that 3,907 firearms were unaccounted for in the police armoury prior to Kayode Egbetokun’s tenure as the Inspector General of Police ,IGP.

Police force spokesperson Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in a statement, clarified that some of the weapons were stolen by criminals during civil unrest.

He explained, “This report seems to stem from an assessment of the Auditor-General of the Federation’s report, which dates back to 2019 and likely reflects records compiled before the current IGP’s tenure.

The report, in Issue 3b, Sub (iii), states that 3,907 arms were unaccounted for, not ‘missing’ as the media has speculated.

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“It is important to recognize the challenges the police faced during periods of civil unrest, which included the loss of officers and the theft of weapons, along with attacks and looting of police facilities and armouries.

“However, significant efforts have been made to account for the stolen weapons, with many of them being recovered and returned to the force’s armory.

“We also want to point out that during audit visits to our armouries, it is possible that some weapons may not be present because they have been issued to officers for operational duties, which can last for months depending on the operation. This may lead to misunderstandings about the accuracy of audit reports.”

Crediblenewsng.com