Official vehicles have been recovered by the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission from commissioners that voluntarily resigned from the state executive council.
Operatives of the commission carried out the recovery exercise on Thursday, which resulted from alleged continued refusal of the affected commissioners to return government property in their custody.
The Chairman of the Commission, Sa’idu Yahaya, who led the operation told newsmen after the recovery exercise that the action became necessary after they failed to comply with official requests to return government property in their custody.
Following this formal complaints and notification from the Office of the Secretary to the Kano State Government regarding alleged abuse of office and the need for the former officials to return all government property in their possession upon resignation, he said that the operation exercise was carried out.
The chairman alleged that some of the commissioners sold the official vehicles shortly after leaving office, stressing that government assets are not personal property and once an official leaves office, all government vehicles and assets in their custody must be returned immediately.
Yahaya stated that they were advised to return the vehicles to avoid making it public but refused, leaving them with no alternative but to take action, saying that they followed due process and secured a court order, which was duly granted the recovery of the vehicles.
He said five vehicles have been recovered so far from five commissioners, pointing out that only two of the vehicles recovered are the exact official vehicles purchased by the government while the other three are not the original vehicles.
“Investigation revealed that the official vehicles had been sold and replaced with other vehicles, which we also recovered. We will launch a full investigation to determine whether the official vehicles were sold to procure these ones or otherwise,” Yahaya said.
The anti-corruption boss dismissed suggestions that the action was politically motivated, insisting that the commission’s intervention was strictly in line with its statutory responsibility to safeguard public property.
The chairman explained that the exercise is not about witch-hunting anyone but about protecting the resources of the people of Kano State, assuring that they will not tolerate any form of misconduct or unlawful retention of government property.
He also assured that the commission would sustain surveillance on the use and custody of public assets, stressing that similar measures would be taken against any official found to be in breach of asset return regulations.
According to him, “Public trust depends on transparency and accountability. We are determined to strengthen both, and we will take appropriate action against anyone found mismanaging or unlawfully holding government property.”