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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Economy & Trade

NSA Did Not Sponsor Tin Can Island Arms Importation, Arms Centre Chief Says

From The Punch · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Official statement Under investigation
  • Nigeria’s National Arms Centre chief Johnson Kokumo denied allegations that National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu sponsored suspects connected to an illegal arms shipment.
  • Nigerian Customs intercepted 399 automatic weapons at Tin Can Island Port, and two suspects remain in custody as investigations continue.
  • Authorities publicly destroyed 1,419 illicit weapons in July, bringing the centre’s total destroyed since 2022 to more than 19,000.

The head of Nigeria’s National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons has rejected a viral video alleging that National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu sponsored people arrested over an illegal arms shipment.

The story in the video is not correct and cannot be correct. I was at the Tin Can Island Port with the Comptroller-General.

— Johnson KokumoHe denied the viral allegation and described his presence during the weapons handover.

Director-General Johnson Kokumo said he personally attended the handover of 399 assorted automatic weapons intercepted by the Nigerian Customs Service at Tin Can Island Port. He said the Comptroller-General of Customs also attended the handover in person.

“The story in the video is not correct and cannot be correct,” Kokumo told journalists in Abuja during a joint security spokespersons’ briefing. He said the weapons were now held in a secured armoury and that two suspects remained in custody.

As I’m talking to you, the arms are in a secured armoury. Two suspects arrested in connection with the illegal importation are currently in custody.

— Johnson KokumoHe gave the status of the seized weapons and suspects.

Kokumo said investigators were seeking to prosecute those involved and identify possible international criminal partners. He also said the video called for violence against Ribadu and others, describing its allegations as baseless.

Investigation is ongoing with a view to bringing to book the criminal elements in Nigeria and possibly identifying their international criminal partners outside the shores of Nigeria.

— Johnson KokumoHe described the purpose of the continuing investigation.

The centre continues to destroy recovered illicit weapons, citing Nigeria’s obligations under United Nations, African Union and ECOWAS agreements. Kokumo said a public destruction exercise on July 30 at Muhammadu Buhari Cantonment in Giri, Abuja, eliminated 1,419 weapons. The exercise brought the centre’s total number of destroyed illicit weapons since 2022 to more than 19,000.

Another reason for destroying them is to also ensure that the weapons so recovered do not find their ways back into the hands of non-state actors for use on innocent citizens of Nigeria.

— Johnson KokumoHe explained why the government destroys recovered illicit weapons.
About this summary

Originally published by The Punch in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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