The Edo State Government has demanded that Asue Ighodalo, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the recently held governorship election and other supporters of the party return all government vehicles in their possession within 72 hours.

The Chairman of the Government Assets Recovery Committee, Kelly Okungbowa, made this announcement on Tuesday, December 17, 2024.

Speaking on Channels Television, Okungbowa disclosed that some vehicles belonging to the now-defunct government transport company, Edo Line, were allegedly sold and later discovered in a spare parts market in Benin City.

He said, “We want to use this medium to appeal to those people whose names have been mentioned to please return those vehicles to the authorities because they are not my property. Those vehicles are the property of the state government for the Edo people. And we all know the cost of buying one vehicle. To buy a brand new Hilux costs nothing less than N120 million. Where do they expect the governor to get that kind of money to purchase new vehicles?

“We want to appeal to them, especially the candidate of the PDP, Barrister Asue Ighodalo and his running mate. It is good for us to also advise them as a father and leader in the state, that they should do the right thing by returning those vehicles.

“It may interest you that those vehicles that have been recovered- the governor has directed that we should reallocate them to the agencies, and we have done that.

“Mr Governor went to Edo Line during the time of his electoral campaign. He said he would revamp Edo Line. When we got there, there were no vehicles. We got some information that those vehicles were taken from the Edo Line and sold. This morning, we got information, and we went to a place called Uwelo Spareparts. We discovered about 12 vehicles there. Six were movable, six were not movable. We have the video here.

“While we are appealing, the government will also decide on its own. We are not here to witch-hunt anybody. We are doing our job according to the law. It is not that we don’t know where some of them were kept. They took some of the vehicles to Lagos, Abuja, and Abeokuta. But we are appealing to them, and follow due process.”

All the names of officials attached to the previous administration who are allegedly still in possession of government vehicles have been listed and advised that such vehicles be returned within 72 hours.

“We are giving them another 72 hours to do the needful. If they fail to do it, then we will do the needful,” he added.