By RAMATU GARBA

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Kano on Tuesday, awarded N1 million cost against the Kano State Government for not “putting their house in order “ .

Former members of the Kano State Executive Council had filed a lawsuit seeking to restrain the state government from retrieving official vehicles allocated to them while in office.

The former members are Dr Yusuf Kofar-Mata, former Commissioner for Science, Technology and Innovation; retired AVM Ibrahim Umar, former Commissioner for Internal Security; and Nasir Sule Garo, former Commissioner for Special Duties.

Others are Adamu Aliyu Kibiya, former Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation; and Mustapha Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, former Commissioner for Youth.

The applicants’ counsel, Mr Suraj Sa’ed, SAN, filed the motions ex-parte pursuant to Order 17 Rule 1 of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2017.

The applicants sought an interim injunction restraining the respondents, their servants, agents or privies from taking steps to retrieve the official vehicles pending the hearing and determination of motions already filed before the court.

The respondents in the suit are the Attorney General of Kano State, the Governor of Kano State, and the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission.

When the case came up for hearing, counsel to the Kano State Government, Mr S. U. Jibril, informed the court that they not ready to proceed.

Jibril said he was briefed on the matter on March 9 and had not had sufficient time to prepare the necessary documents.

“My Lord, I was briefed yesterday around 2:30 p.m. by the office of the first respondent. We made efforts to ensure that our papers are ready, but we could not complete them. We are asking for another date,” he said.

He opposed the request for cost, arguing that the respondents were still within the time allowed by law to file their processes.

Earlier, counsel to the former commissioners, Mr Suraj Sa’eda, SAN, said they had no objection to the application for adjournment but urged the court to award costs of N1 million each to compensate the applicants.

“My Lord the respondents had been duly served with the court processes and should have prepared their response” he said

Justice Mahmood Abba-Namtari, then awarded a cost of N200,000 each against the respondents.

He adjourned the matter until April 28, for hearing.

NAN reports that the court on March 2, declined an application filed by the applicants seeking to restrain the state government from retrieving official vehicles allocated to them while in office.

NAN reports that the applicants resigned their positions as commissioners following political developments surrounding Gov. Abba Kabir-Yusuf’s defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).(NAN)

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