Nigeria arms control centre denies linking NSA to illegal weapons seizure

The Director-General of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), DIG Johnson Kokumo (retd), has denied allegations in a viral video claiming that suspects arrested for illegal arms importation at Tin Can Island Port were sponsored by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.

Kokumo stated that he was personally present at the port when the Nigerian Customs Service handed over 399 assorted automatic weapons intercepted at the facility to the centre. He described the claims in the video as incorrect and noted that the video contained calls for violence against Ribadu and other individuals.

Two suspects remain in custody, and investigations are ongoing to identify other individuals involved, including potential international criminal partners. The seized weapons have been secured in an armoury. Additionally, Kokumo reported that the federal government continues to destroy recovered illicit weapons to prevent them from being diverted back to criminal actors, noting that 1,419 weapons were destroyed during a recent exercise in Abuja.