The committee set up by Governor Monday Okpebholo for the recovery of assets from the administration of his predecessor, Godwin Obaseki, has declared over 200 vehicles belonging to the Edo State Government missing.
The chairman of the committee, Kelly Okungbowa who made this disclosure to newshounds on Friday, 22 November,2024 in Benin City, said three vehicles have been recovered in a private residence.
Okungbowa listed the three vehicles as one Hilux van and two Toyota Hiace buses.
He also disclosed that in one of the Toyota Hiace buses, the committee recovered some palliatives that were meant to have been shared to the people of the state.
He added that the palliatives include bags of garri and rice of 10 kilograms and 25 kilograms.
Okungbowa, however, appealed for more information from members of the public, assuring that whistleblowers would be handsomely rewarded.
“Yesterday, we were inaugurated, and we promised to follow the law to carry out the mandate of Mr Governor which is to recover all missing government vehicles in private hands.
“We are glad to inform the people of Edo State that we have recorded success within 24 hours of our inauguration.
“I am glad to announce to you that we have recovered one Hilux and two Toyota Hiace buses in private custody. You see that within 24 hours we have made success and recovered some vehicles.
“We assure the Edo people and the State Government that we are going to do the job to the best of our ability. We will make sure we recover all the stolen vehicles.
“Reports reaching us are that we have over 200 government vehicles missing. We appeal for more information as the whistleblowers will be handsomely rewarded.
“This is not private property but the property of Edo citizens and it is not good for a private individual to steal government property.
“This vehicle was recovered from one person’s house. Palliatives were recovered from the Toyota Hiace bus as some garri and bags of rice were kept in the bus.
“We are just wondering how many will be in the houses of former government officials like the Chief of Staff, SSG, and so-called Deputy Governor which is not known by law.
“We appeal to former government officials and other citizens holding back government vehicles to return the vehicles within 48 hours.
“Information is key as these three vehicles recovered this morning as a result of information.
“We need more information as we are moving to other places where we have been informed that government vehicles are parked. There has not been resistance so far because security agencies are backing our operations,” he said.
