The Senate Public Accounts Committee is worried about cases of contract fraud, missing firearms and other cases of irregularities discovered in the operations of the Nigeria Police Force.
These cases were revealed during a review of the Auditor-General’s report when senators learnt of eight infractions within the police operations including the case of missing 3,900 firearms, including AK-47 rifles, and contract irregularities totalling ₦1.136 billion.
The disappearance of the rifles which a senator described as ‘scary’ was said to have jolted the senators who demanded immediate explanation from the police authorities as to their whereabouts.
In the midst of the heated debate, Assistant Inspector General of Police (Budget), Abdul Suleiman, assured the lawmakers that the police had provided answers to the audit queries raised.
However, his explanation did not sit well with some of the lawmakers as their voices rose in their demand for clear answers on the whereabouts of the rifles at a time the nation is under the crush of insecurity.
Anger flared when some senators disagreed on how to proceed on the discourse. The situation escalated when Senator Ningi called for an executive session to discuss the matter. He later walked out of the meeting.
But the committee chairman insisted that the AIG should disclose the whereabouts of the missing firearms, citing national importance. To this, the AIG pleaded for discretion, stating that discussions on police firepower should not be made public.
“The police will not allow these weapons to go missing at any cost, but this is a security matter best discussed privately,” he said.
However, the majority of lawmakers insisted on Public Accountability. Some senators, including Senator Victor Umeh and Senator Joel Onawakpo-Thomas, sided with the chairman, disagreeing with calls for a closed-door session.
Senator Victor Umeh criticised the police for failing to recover the missing weapons in the face of rising insecurity across the country.
He argued that “Thousands of AK-47s are missing at a time when insecurity is at its peak. The police should have been able to trace these arms. If over 3,900 rifles are unaccounted for, it means our security is compromised. Claiming it’s a ‘security issue’ without providing answers only raises more concerns.”
After a voice vote which went in favour of the majority, the session continued openly.
The police explained that some of the weapons were derived from officers killed while their weapons were carted away. He says no arms were unaccounted for.
But the Committee was not satisfied with the explanations, and subsequently summoned the IGP to appear before it on Monday.
The senators were miffed by the attitude of the police as one of them said, how can they justify that 3,900 firearms were missing, how?”
