Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu has ordered an immediate and comprehensive audit of arms, ammunition, and weapons across all police formations nationwide, directing Commissioners of Police to produce detailed and properly documented inventory reports at Force Headquarters within a stipulated timeframe, in a sweeping accountability drive aimed at plugging gaps in armament control and preventing the diversion or misuse of police firearms.
Disu issued the directive during a strategic meeting with senior police managers at the Force headquarters in Abuja, framing the audit as a critical operational necessity rather than a routine administrative exercise.
“This is not a routine administrative task, but a critical measure to enhance our readiness, prevent misuse, and ensure that all assets entrusted to the Force are properly accounted for and optimally deployed,” he said, directing that the exercise be conducted thoroughly, transparently, and with detailed documentation.
The IGP also directed all Commissioners of Police to hold regular town hall meetings with traditional rulers, religious leaders, market associations, youth organizations, women’s groups, and transport unions, and to make their personal contact details available to community leaders within their states to improve intelligence flow and trust between the police and the communities they served.
He disclosed that police operations in April yielded the arrest of 280 suspected terrorists, bandits, and criminals including 28 suspected terrorists, 51 murder and culpable homicide suspects, 62 armed robbery suspects, 85 kidnapping suspects, and 54 suspected cultists. Operatives rescued 189 kidnap victims, recovered 140 assorted firearms, 1,074 rounds of various calibres of ammunition, and 37 stolen vehicles.
Disu separately assured Nigerians that the extrajudicial killing of an unarmed suspect by a police officer in Delta State would be pursued to its full and logical conclusion, reiterating the force’s zero-tolerance stance on impunity within its ranks.
