Director-general (DG) of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (NCCSALW), DIG Johnson Kokumo (rtd), has dismissed allegations in a viral video claiming that the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, was behind the seized weapons at Tin Can Island Port in Lagos.

It would be recalled that suspects arrested over the seized arms had alleged in the video that the NSA sponsored them.

But Kokumo, while addressing journalists yesterday in Abuja during the joint security spokespersons’ briefing, said that he was personally present at the Tin Can Island Port when the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) handed over 399 assorted automatic weapons to the NCCSALW.

“The story in the video is not correct and cannot be correct. I was at the Tin Can Island Port with the Comptroller-General of NCS. 399 assorted automatic weapons were intercepted by the Customs at the port. And this cache of illegal weapons was handed over to the Centre.

“I was not there in a representative capacity; I was there personally. And the Comptroller-General, of course, was also present personally to do the handing over,” Kokumo said.

He maintained that the allegations contained in the viral video were baseless, noting that the video also called for violence against the NSA and other persons.

Kokumo also disclosed that the Federal Government had continued to destroy recovered illicit weapons to prevent them from being diverted back into the hands of criminal and non-state actors.

He said that the destruction of the weapons was in line with international conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory, including agreements under the United Nations (UN), African Union (AU) and ECOWAS.

The DG said the second quarter arms destruction exercise for 2026, conducted on July 30, 2026, at the Muhammadu Buhari Cantonment, Giri, Abuja, resulted in the public destruction of 1,419 illicit weapons.

He said the latest exercise brought the cumulative number of illicit weapons destroyed by the Centre since 2022 to more than 19,000.

Kokumo said the destruction was part of efforts by the Federal Government to prevent the possession and use of illicit weapons by non-state actors involved in terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent crimes.

He disclosed that the Centre had received 5,050 illicit, unserviceable, decommissioned and obsolete assorted automatic weapons retrieved from the Nigeria Police Force in June 2026, adding that 399 JOJEF automatic guns intercepted by the NCS were handed over to the Centre on August 17, 2026.

Kokumo, however, said the government was not targeting legitimate local arms manufacturers, saying that some artisanal producers possess skills that could be harnessed for national development.