By: Hajara Umar Nataala
The recently released report by the Auditor General of the Federation, Adolphus Aghughu, has claimed that the police high command have failed to keep a record of the unserviceable and expired firearms and ammunitions.
According to the AuGF who presented his report to the Clerk of the National Assembly: “the Audit observed from the review of Arms Movement Register, Monthly Returns of Arms and Ammunition and Ammunition Register at the Armoury section that the total number of firearms reported lost as at December 2018 stood at 178,459 pieces. Out of this number, 88,078 were AK-47 rifles, 3,907 were assorted rifles and pistols across different police formations, which could not be accounted for as of January 2020.”
Observers have often quickly drawn a correlation between the missing arms and ammunitions of the Police to the increase in the number of arms in the society. It would be recalled that a similar December 2016 and May 2017 report by the office of the Auditor General of the federation revealed that at least 44 assorted arms belonging to the Nigerian police could not be accounted for between 2013 and 2015.
A police spokesperson at the time, Moshood Jimoh, was quoted as saying “no police weapon was lost in the first place; so, there was no way police-owned guns could have ended up with criminals.” Therefore, it is to be expected that the authorities of the police would come up with a statement denying the details of the current report while assuring the public of their safety. However, a mere debunking of the alarm is not sufficient. Rather, the two bodies should sit down and reconcile the facts; and until they do that, there should be a presumption that arms and ammunitions are indeed missing, with the dangerous thought they could have landed in the wrong hands.
A concerned citizen in a statement made to The Guardian claimed that “It is bad enough that Nigerians have had reasons to question the competence of its security agencies, owing to cases of highhandedness, extortion and extrajudicial killings, all of which culminated in the #EndSARS protest of October, 2020. The consequences of which the nation is still reeling from; and which has prompted stakeholders to call for the restructuring of the nation’s security architecture. However, to allow the notion and idea that the nation’s security agencies are frolicking with the criminals responsible for the death of hundreds and displacement of millions would be catastrophic.
“At this time, it will serve the government well to provide plausible answers to the people, and not their usual patronizing responses. Nigerians need to know how these arms and ammunitions got missing; who are the handlers of the weapons? Was there a breach in the procedures when they were making reports on them, and if so, why? Why were reports not made according to the laid down rules and regulations, and what punitive actions (if any) have been taken against the personnel responsible”. Another concerned citizen commented.
It is sad to note that in spite of earlier reports by the office of the Auditor General of the Federation, authorities of the police command have not deemed it necessary to address the issues raised by either re-evaluating their administrative processes to ensure the safety of its armoury or by ensuring compliance with the laid down rules and regulations. In addition, the result of this lackadaisical attitude is clear for all to see.
Between 2013 and 2015 the number of missing arms was reported to be 44, the number of missing arms and ammunitions in the intervening period has skyrocketed to 178,459 pieces.
Nigerians and the nation in general have in recent times paid too great a price for its Police force to continue its operations in such a careless manner. With the incessant reports of attacks by terrorist organizations operating under different appellations becoming more emboldened with each attack on security facilities by “unknown gunmen” in the Southeast.
Kidnappings of travellers by “bandits” in the Northwest. The displacement of millions by Boko Haram insurgents in the Islamic States in the Northeast. How much more should Nigerians be expected to bear. In one night alone in Zamfara State, terrorists have killed as many as 200 innocent persons in some villages! More disheartening is the charge on Nigerians to defend themselves, by those statutorily bodies entrusted with such responsibilities. What legitimacy does an elected government that has failed to meet the basic aspirations of its citizens maintain?
The time for the nation’s security agencies to rise to the occasion is now, and it can no longer be business as usual, for what is at stake is the security of the lives and properties of the citizens and the sovereignty of the Nigerian State. For no nation can thrive in the face of multiplicity of social unrest, and the rising cases of insecurity.
President Muhammadu Buhari as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces should realize that the average Nigerian does not feel safe and has rightly considered his government to have failed in its constitutional duty of ensuring the security and welfare of the people, which is the primary purpose of government. He must as a matter of urgency rein in the nation’s security agencies to ensure they live up to their constitutional responsibilities, if he has any intention of redeeming the goodwill upon which he rode to power in 2015. He concluded.
Source: The Guardian