The National Industrial Court of Nigeria sitting in Kano and hearing the case of Former Commissioners suit on Vehicles retrieval, has awarded N200,000 costs against the Kano State Government in each of the five sister cases and adjourned the matter to April 28, 2026, for hearing.
The Court adjourned further hearing in the suits filed by former commissioners and members of the Executive Council seeking to stop the state government from retrieving official vehicles allocated to them while in office.
The presiding judge, Justice Mahmood Abba Namtari, also awarded a cost of N200,000 against the respondents in each of the five sister cases after their counsel requested an adjournment to enable them file the necessary processes.
At the resumed sitting on Tuesday, counsel to the Kano State Government, Barrister S. U. Jibril, informed the court that the respondents were not ready to proceed with the matter.
He told the court that he had only been briefed by the office of the first defendant on Monday afternoon and had not had sufficient time to prepare the required documents.
“We were briefed yesterday around 2:30 p.m. by the office of the first defendant. We made efforts to ensure that our papers are ready, but we could not complete them. We are asking for another date,” Jibril argued.
However, counsel to the former commissioners, Suraj Sa’ed, SAN, said they had no objection to the application for adjournment but requested that the court award costs to compensate the claimants.
Sa’ed, however, urged the court to award N1 million as costs in each of the suits, arguing that the respondents had been duly served with the court processes and should have prepared their response.
In response, Jibril opposed the request for cost, arguing that the respondents were still within the time allowed by law to file their processes.
“My lord, we should not be considered for cost. All the respondents were served on the 3rd day of March, and we are still within time to file our papers,” he submitted.
Justice Namtari noted that the court’s records indicated that the respondents had been served earlier, on February 26.
The government’s counsel further told the court that the case involved several documents and required adequate time to prepare, adding that the request was the first adjournment in the matter.
The suits were filed by Dr Yusuf Ibrahim K/Mata, former Commissioner for Science, Technology and Innovation; AVM Ibrahim Umar (Rtd), 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, former Commissioner for Youth.
The former commissioners had approached the court seeking to restrain the Kano State Government from retrieving official vehicles allocated to them during their tenure.
They listed as defendants the Attorney General of Kano State, the Governor of Kano State and the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission.
At the previous sitting, the court refused separate ex parte applications filed by the claimants seeking interim orders to stop the government from taking steps to retrieve the vehicles.
Justice Namtari declined to grant the requests and directed that the applications be heard on notice, allowing the respondents to present their arguments before any interim orders could be considered.