Court Fines Kano Govt N1m Over Ex-Commissioners’ Case

The National Industrial Court sitting in Kano yesterday awarded a total cost of N1 million against the Kano State Government in a suit filed by five former members of the state executive council seeking to stop the government from retrieving official vehicles allocated to them while in office.

The applicants are Dr. Yusuf Kofar-Mata, former Commissioner for Science, Technology and Innovation; retired AVM Ibrahim Umar, former Commissioner for Internal Security; Nasir Sule Garo, former Commissioner for Special Duties; Adamu Aliyu Kibiya, former Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation; and Mustapha Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, former Commissioner for Youth.

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

They sought an interim injunction restraining the respondents, their agents or privies from taking steps to retrieve the official vehicles pending the determination of motions already before the court.

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

When the matter came up, counsel to the state government, Mr S.U. Jibril, told the court that the respondents were not ready to proceed, explaining that he had only been briefed on the matter on March 9 and needed more 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 tried to ensure our processes were ready but could not complete them,” he said while seeking an adjournment.

However, Sa’ed did not oppose the request for adjournment but urged the court to award costs, arguing that the respondents had been duly served with court processes.

Justice Mahmood Abba-Namtari subsequently awarded N200,000 against the respondents in each of the five cases, bringing the total cost to N1 million, and adjourned the matter to April 28, 2026, for hearing.

The court had earlier, on March 2, declined an application by the former commissioners seeking to restrain the government from retrieving the vehicles.