Officials of the immediate-past administration in Edo State have been directed to return the government vehicles in their possession within 48 hours.
Chairman of the committee set up to recover vehicles belonging to the state government, Kelly Okungbowa gave the directive on Friday in Benin City where he announced that over 200 vehicles were currently missing.
He appealed to former government officials and other citizens holding back government vehicles “to return the vehicles within 48 hours.”
“We need more information as we are moving to other places where we have been informed that government vehicles are parked. There have not been resistance so far because security agencies are backing our operations,” Okungbowa said.
Okungbowa also disclosed that within 24 hours of the committee’s existence, it has recovered three vehicles in a private residence.
The committee’s chairman revealed this while speaking to journalists on the success of his committee within 24 hours, saying the three vehicles include one Hilux van and two Toyota Hiace buses.
According to him, in one of the Toyota Hiace buses, the committee recovered some palliatives which were meant to have been shared to the people of the state.
He added that the palliatives include bags of garri and rice of 10kg and 25kg respectively.
He appealed for more information from members of the public, saying it was the information earlier obtained that led to the recovery of the three vehicles.
Okungbowa also assured whistleblowers that handsome rewards await them provided their information are valid and verifiable.
He said; “Yesterday (Thursday), we were inaugurated, we promised to follow the law to carry out the mandate of Mr Governor which is to recover all missing government vehicles in private hands. We are glad to inform the people of Edo State that we have recorded success within 24 hours of our inauguration.
“I am glad to announce to you that we have recovered one Hilux and two Toyota Hiace buses in private custody. You see that within 24 hours that we have made success and recovered some vehicles.”
He assured the Edo people and the state government that the committee will do the job to the best of its ability. “We will make sure we recover all the stolen vehicles,” he vowed.
Speaking on the number of vehicles believed to have been taken away, Okungbowa said, “Reports reaching us is that we have over 200 government vehicles missing. We appeal for more information as the whistleblowers will be handsomely rewarded.
“This is not private property but the property of Edo citizens and it is not good for a private individual to steal government property,” he said.
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