Story from Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi
The Bauchi State government has ordered for the auctioning of seized commercial motorcycles to their original owners beginning from Monday.
The motorcycles were initially seized as a result of the violation of the COVID-19 executives’ order by the users.
The Commissioner for Information in the State, Alhaji Garba Dahiru who stated this in Bauchi over the weekend said that the gesture was meant to cushion the economic hardship faced by the owners of the seized motorcycles.
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The Commissioner said over 100 motorcycles were seized from those who violated the ban on commercial motorcycle operations by the government in the state.
He said “Gentlemen of the press, you may recall that in the month of April 2020, the Bauchi state government under the leadership of His Excellency, Senator Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir had banned the activities of commercial motorcycle operators popularly known as achaba and carrying of passengers on motorcycles to date”, he said.
Dahiru said the ban was not meant to impose hardship on the citizen but to contain the spread of COVID-19 pandemic and in compliance with other protocols.
The Commissioner said, following the ban, the state government established a mobile court to try violators.
“The court while carrying out its duties had cause to forfeit to the Bauchi state government over 100 motorcycles confiscated from those who violated the law”, he explained.
He said that the state government under Governor Bala Mohammed has directed that the forfeited motorcycles be auctioned to no other person’s but their original owners.
Dahiru said the move is to cushion the effect caused by the forfeiture on the original owners of the forfeited motorcycles.
He said that auctioning exercise would be done after the presentation of genuine evidence of ownership of the seized motorcycles and the auction shall be at the paltry rate of N5000.
Dahiru said that the state government has warned the citizens to strictly comply with the provisions of the law, more especially in major cities of the state.
“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 explained that the 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 further said.
Also speaking, Mohammed Mukhtar Abubakar who is the judge of the COVID-19 partial lockdown mobile court in the state said that his court has been lenient to offenders in the state.
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