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A court in Kano has ordered the Kano State Government to pay a total of N1m as costs in a legal dispute involving former commissioners over the official vehicles given to them while in office.
The National Industrial Court in Kano, led by Justice Mahmood Abba Namtari, gave the order on Tuesday after the state government asked for more time to prepare its response in the case.
The case was filed by five former commissioners who want the court to stop the Kano State Government from taking back the official vehicles they used during their time in office.
During the hearing, the lawyer representing the Kano State Government, Barrister S. U. Jibril, told the court that the government was not ready to continue with the case.
He explained that he was only informed about the matter on Monday afternoon and had not had enough time to prepare the necessary documents.
“We were briefed yesterday around 2:30 p.m. by the office of the first defendant. We tried to get our papers ready but could not complete them. We are asking for another date,” he said.
However, the lawyer representing the former commissioners, Suraj Sa’ed (SAN), said he had no problem with the request for an adjournment.
Still, he asked the court to award costs to his clients because the government had already received the court documents earlier and should have prepared its response.
Sa’ed requested N1m in costs for each case, arguing that the delay had caused inconvenience to the claimants.
In response, Jibril opposed the request. He argued that the government was still within the legal time allowed to submit its documents.
“My lord, we should not be asked to pay costs. All the respondents were served on March 3, and we are still within time to file our papers,” he said.
But Justice Namtari noted that court records showed the defendants were actually served earlier, on February 26.
The judge then ordered the respondents to pay N200,000 in costs for each of the five related cases, bringing the total to N1 million. The court also postponed further hearing of the case until April 28, 2026.
The former commissioners who filed the suit include Dr. Yusuf Ibrahim K/Mata, AVM Ibrahim Umar (Rtd), Nasir Sule Garo, Adamu Aliyu Kibiya, and Mustapha Rabi’u.
They asked the court to stop the Kano State Government from collecting the official vehicles given to them during their tenure.
The defendants in the case are the Attorney General of Kano State, the Governor of Kano State, and the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission.
Earlier, the court had rejected a request by the former commissioners for an urgent order to immediately stop the government from retrieving the vehicles.
The judge ruled that both sides must first present their arguments before any temporary order could be granted.
The dispute is part of an ongoing legal battle over whether former Kano commissioners have the right to keep official vehicles assigned to them while they were in office.
Court orders Kano govt to pay former commissioners N1m In official car dispute
