The Recovery Committee has made allegations that certain vehicles formerly owned by the defunct Edo Line government transport company were illicitly sold and have since been located in a spare parts market in Benin City, Edo State’s capital.
The Edo State Government has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to Asue Ighodalo, the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate in the recent governorship election, and other politicians to surrender government vehicles in their possession.
This directive was issued by Kelly Okungbowa, Chairman of the Government Assets Recovery Committee, on Tuesday, as part of the state’s efforts to recover public assets.
“We want to use this medium to appeal to those people whose names have been mentioned, to please return those vehicles to the authorities, because they are not my property,” Okungbowa was quoted by Channels TV as saying.
He continued: “Those vehicles are the property of the state government, for the Edo people. And we all know the cost of buying one vehicle.
“To buy a brand-new Hilux costs you nothing less than N120 million. Where do they expect the governor to get that kind of money to purchase new vehicles?
“We want to appeal to them, especially the candidate of the PDP, Barrister Asue Ighodalo and his running mate. It is good for us to also advise them as a father and leader in the state, that they should do the right thing by returning those vehicles.
“It may interest you that those vehicles that have been recovered – the governor has directed that we should reallocate them to the agencies, and we have done that.
“Mr Governor went to Edo Line during the time of his electoral campaign. He said he would revamp Edo Line. When we got there, there was no vehicle. We got some information that those vehicles were taken from the Edo Line and sold.
“This morning, we got information, and we went to a place called Uwelo Spareparts. We discovered about 12 vehicles there. Six were movable, six were not movable. We have the video here.
“While we are appealing, the government will also decide on its own. We are not here to witch-hunt anybody. We are doing our job according to the law. It is not that we don’t know where some of them were kept. They took some of the vehicles to Lagos, Abuja, and Abeokuta. But we are appealing to them, and follow due process.”
The committee also listed the names of officials attached to the previous administration who are allegedly still in possession of government vehicles, and advised that such vehicles be returned within 72 hours.
“We are giving them another 72 hours to do the needful. If they fail to do it, then, we will do the needful,” he added.
