AIG Faces Fierce Scrutiny Over 3,907 Missing Assault Rifles
A dramatic confrontation unfolded on Tuesday at the Senate Committee on Public Accounts as Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Suleiman Abdul was grilled about the disappearance of 3,907 assault rifles, including a significant number of AK-47s. This issue came to light during the committee’s inquiry when the representative of the Auditor General for the Federation revealed the 2019 Audit Query, which stated that by January 2020, these firearms were either missing or unaccounted for.
The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, who had apologized earlier for failing to attend previous invitations, nominated AIG Suleiman Abdul to respond to the audit queries. Despite some queries being dismissed or postponed, one question remained unresolved: the missing firearms. The committee was especially alarmed by the missing 3,907 assault rifles, which were traced across various police units.
AIG Abdul was informed that, as of December 2018, a total of 178,459 firearms were lost, with 88,078 being AK-47s. Of these, 3,907 could not be accounted for after a thorough audit conducted up to January 2020. The rifles were spread across various police formations, including 601 from 15 training institutions and 1,721 from the Police Mobile Force.
Faced with intense questioning, AIG Abdul struggled to provide satisfying answers, with committee members demanding explanations for the missing firearms. Overwhelmed, the AIG requested a closed-door session to address the issue privately, but this request was firmly rejected by the committee members, including Deputy Chairman Senator Peter Nwaebonyi and Senators Adams Oshiomhole and Joel Onawakpo-Thomas.
Senator Nwaebonyi, in particular, stressed that public accountability should be transparent, stating that such proceedings should be open to the public, with no room for secrecy. Senator Oshiomhole, too, questioned the police’s lack of progress on the missing firearms, urging the AIG to reveal the steps taken to recover them and identify those responsible.
In response, AIG Abdul was only able to account for 15 rifles, claiming that 14 were lost when personnel were killed in active service, and one rifle went missing in 1998. This weak explanation further angered the committee.
The committee then decided to postpone further action, giving the AIG and his team time to refine their responses. They were ordered to return next Monday at noon, with the remaining five queries still under consideration. The issue of the missing assault rifles, however, would not be swept under the rug.
