There was intense drama on Tuesday at the Senate Committee on Public Accounts as Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Suleiman Abdul faced questioning over the disappearance of 3,907 assault rifles, including many AK-47s.
Representing the Inspector General of Police, AIG Abdul listened attentively as a representative from the Auditor General’s office presented the 2019 Audit Query. The report revealed that as of January 2020, thousands of assault rifles were either missing or unaccounted for by the police.
Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, who had appeared before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts earlier, apologized for failing to honor previous invitations.
After offering his apology and taking an oath, Egbetokun appointed Assistant Inspector General of Police in Charge of Public Accounts and Budget, AIG Suleiman Abdul, to respond to the eight audit queries raised against the Police by the Auditor-General’s office.
The committee, led by Deputy Chairman Senator Peter Nwaebonyi of Ebonyi North, dismissed the first query concerning a N1.136 billion contract splitting and put the second query—related to the alleged non-execution of a N925 million contract—on hold. However, it upheld the third query regarding the disappearance of 3,907 assault rifles, including several AK-47s.
