IGP Disu: Stop Cross-Border Arms Flows To Protect 2027 Elections
The safety of voters and election officials in Nigeria’s 2027 general elections depends partly on stopping the illegal flow of weapons across national borders, Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Rilwan Disu has warned.
Disu spoke on Monday in Abuja while declaring open a five-day Small Arms and Light Weapons Identification and Tracing (SALW-IT) Simulation Programme involving security personnel from 12 African countries.
The programme, running from 12 to 16 October, aims to strengthen participants’ capacity to identify, mark, register and trace illicit firearms and ammunition through technical training and practical simulations.
The IGP warned that illegal weapons could be used to intimidate voters, attack political opponents and disrupt elections, undermining public confidence in the democratic process.
He said many of the weapons enter countries through porous borders and trafficking routes that require coordinated regional action to dismantle.
Disu called for stronger intelligence-sharing, joint investigations and cross-border cooperation to identify trafficking networks, their financiers and suppliers.
He noted that illicit arms also fuel terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and organised crime across Africa, stressing that no country could tackle the threat effectively in isolation.
Participants are drawn from Nigeria, Chad, the Central African Republic, Mali, Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Niger, Libya, Benin and the Republic of the Congo.
The IGP said lessons from the training would be cascaded across police commands and formations to improve weapons recovery, intelligence gathering and election-security operations ahead of the 2027 polls.
He commended the African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL), the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (BICC), INTERPOL and other partners for supporting the initiative.
Disu reaffirmed the Nigeria Police Force’s commitment to regional cooperation and effective arms control to promote public safety and peaceful elections.
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