A court in Kano has directed the Kano State Government to pay a total of N1 million as costs in a legal dispute involving former commissioners over official vehicles allocated to them while they served in office.
The ruling was delivered on Tuesday by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria sitting in Kano, presided over by Justice Mahmood Abba Namtari, after the state government requested additional time to prepare its response to the case.
The suit was filed by five former commissioners who are asking the court to restrain the Kano State Government from repossessing the official vehicles they used during their tenure.
During proceedings, counsel to the Kano State Government, Barrister S. U. Jibril, informed the court that the government was not ready to proceed with the matter.
He told the court that he had only been notified about the case on Monday afternoon and had not been given enough time to prepare the required 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.
In response, counsel to the former commissioners, Suraj Sa’ed (SAN), said he had no objection to the request for an adjournment.
However, he urged the court to award costs to his clients, arguing that the government had been served with the court documents earlier and should have prepared its defence.
Sa’ed asked the court to award N1 million in costs for each of the cases, stating that the delay had caused inconvenience to the claimants.
But Jibril opposed the request, insisting that the government was still within the legally allowed time to file 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.
Justice Namtari, however, pointed out that records before the court showed the defendants had actually been served earlier, on February 26.
The judge subsequently ordered the respondents to pay N200,000 as costs in each of the five related cases, bringing the total to N1 million. The matter was then adjourned to April 28, 2026, for further hearing.
The former commissioners involved in the suit are Dr. Yusuf Ibrahim K/Mata, AVM Ibrahim Umar (Rtd), Nasir Sule Garo, Adamu Aliyu Kibiya, and Mustapha Rabi’u.
They are seeking an order restraining the Kano State Government from reclaiming the official vehicles allocated to them during their time in office.
Those listed as defendants in the case include the Attorney General of Kano State, the Governor of Kano State, and the Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission.
Earlier in the proceedings, the court had declined a request by the former commissioners for an urgent order to immediately stop the government from retrieving the vehicles.
The judge ruled that both parties must first present their arguments before any interim order could be considered.
The dispute forms part of an ongoing legal battle over whether former commissioners in Kano State are entitled to retain the official vehicles assigned to them while in office.