Bauchi state government says it will auction forfeited commercial motorcycles to their owners who broke COVID-19 protocols and got convicted by the State’s mobile court.
Alhaji Garba Dahiru, the State’s commissioner for Information who stated this during the weekend, says the forfeited motorcycles would be auctioned to their owners at the rate of five thousand naira.
He said the state government became lenient to the owners of the motorcycles, hence the decision to auction them in order to cushion the economic hardship faced by the owners of the seized motorcycles.
The commissioner said over 100 motorcycles were seized from those who violated the ban on commercial motorcycle operations by the government in the state, which was imposed in April to help tame the spread of COVID-19.
According to him, the ban was not meant to impose hardship on the citizens, but to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic and in compliance to other protocols placed by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control.
“The mobile court while carrying out its duties had got those who broke the law to forfeit to the Bauchi state government over 100 motorcycles”, he explained.
He however said that the state government under governor Bala Mohammed has directed that the forfeited motorcycles be auctioned to no other persons but their original owners.
The Commissioner said that the auctioning exercise would be done after presentation of genuine evidence of ownership of the seized motorcycles and the auction shall be at the paltry rate of N5000.
“With this, the rumours that have been going on that Bauchi state government has confiscated motorcycles belonging to commercial motorcycle operators should come to an end as there is nothing like that”, the commissioner noted.
He said Bauchi state government has no intention whatsoever, to confiscate or to seize any of the forfeited motorcycles.
“Of course, that does not even exist because, initially the motorcycles were forfeited by a court of law”, Garba said further.
Also speaking, Mohammed Mukhtar Abubakar who is the judge of the COVID-19 mobile court said his court has been lenient to offenders in the state.
