Nigeria recorded a 104.31 per cent surge in the importation of arms and ammunition during the first half of 2026, with the figure rising to N55.06bn from N26.95bn in the same period of 2025, amid growing fears over the spread of weapons ahead of next year’s general elections.
This is according to the latest foreign trade data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics covering the second quarter of 2026, which showed that Nigeria brought in arms worth more than N55bn within six months.
The PUNCH reported that this inflow of weapons comes less than a year before the Independent National Electoral Commission conducts the 2027 general elections, with the Presidential and National Assembly polls scheduled for January 16, 2027, and the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections set for February 6, 2027.
The rise in arms importation follows an earlier report by The PUNCH which revealed that the Nigeria Customs Service intercepted about 603 firearms entering the country between January and August 2026, with the seized weapons said to have been handed over to the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons.
Security analysts and civil society organisations have consistently drawn a link between the availability of arms and the credibility and safety of elections in Nigeria, and a recent assessment by the CLEEN Foundation of security conduct during the 2026 Osun State governorship election offers insight into what could be at stake ahead of 2027.
The Foundation, which deployed trained observers to monitor the conduct of security officials at the close of polls in Osun, found that security presence was sustained in the “large majority” of polling units it monitored, with all reports rating the number of officers present as adequate.
However, it was reported that officers left their duty posts for some period in six per cent of cases, while two per cent of polling stations were left entirely unattended by security personnel.
The Foundation described the continuity of security presence through to the close of polls as critical, noting that “opportunistic interference is most likely” in the final hours of voting and the period immediately after, when queues are cleared and ballot boxes are prepared for movement.
Its report further disclosed that officers were seen visibly armed with firearms in 37 per cent of the locations monitored, a figure it described as broadly consistent with standard deployment protocol.
Security officials were also reported to have used force in two per cent of locations, while threat incidents were recorded in 12 per cent of the polling units monitored.
Assessing the security of ballot boxes after voting, which it described as a critical link in Nigeria’s electoral chain of custody, the Foundation said officials provided security cover for transporting ballot boxes in 86 per cent of the polling units it monitored, while the remaining 14 per cent could not be independently confirmed.
A separate review of election-day media reports by the Foundation identified six locations with alleged violence, including gunfire near a traditional ruler’s palace and thug-related disruption at a polling unit, although it stressed that most of these accounts originated from unconfirmed party allegations rather than verified incidents.
In its recommendations, the CLEEN Foundation urged security agencies to “sustain, rather than relax, officer presence and vigilance” through the collation and transmission of election results, warning that risks to voters, party agents and observers historically rise in the period after voting closes.
The Foundation also called on the Federal Government to fast-track legislation establishing a dedicated judicial process for prosecuting electoral offenders, describing the current enforcement gap as fuelling a “climate of impunity” that weakens deterrence against electoral malpractice.
