Thousands of people on Tuesday besieged the Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan, Oyo State, for the auctioning of 80 forfeited cars.

The forfeited cars of different brands were bid for at the exercise conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Conducting the exercise, Aliyu Kiliya, the President, Nigeria Association of Auctioneers, expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the EFCC officials and the bidders.

Mr Kiliya said that about 80 forfeited cars were auctioned through licensed auctioneers, adding that the next step was payment by the winners within 24 hours.

“Now, we have conducted the auction and we are looking for the time when the bidders will pay. We are preparing the records for them to come and pay as usual.

“We allow them to source the money and pay in the next 24 hours, according to the provided method of the commission.

“If they can’t meet up with the payment, we have made provision for a second and third bidders in line with the Bureau of Procurement Policy,” he said.

The president of the association said that failure of the first, second and third bidders, would require that members of the commission report back for the next line of decision.

Commenting, Victor Adedoyin, a civil servant and bidder, expressed satisfaction with the process, describing it as fair and transparent.

“It is successful to a very large extent. In my honest opinion, the process has been so fair. The rowdiness witnessed is expected, because everybody wants to cash in.

“The dealers came with the notion that this is an auction where they expect ridiculous amounts placed on the cars. They expected subsidised prices.

“The dealers made the process cumbersome, but for the competitiveness of the bidding process, they were largely disappointed. They didn’t have their way,” he said.

Mr Adedoyin, who said that the initial prices on the cars were very high, urged government to conduct future auctions in line with the economic realities.

He urged the government to ensure that they have more cars to auction before conducting such exercise in future, adding that it would always be cumbersome having millions of people competing for few cars.

Also, Sikirullahi Olayiwola, another bidder, said the exercise was successful, adding that the auctioneers did a good job in spite of the large turnout.

He urged the commission to always trim down the numbers of participants in their advertisements next time they want to conduct such exercise.

He also called on them to adopt other methods of auctioning the cars, especially written bids, pointing out that the auctioneers did not hear more than a thousand bids.

However, some other bidders expressed disappointment in the exercise which they described as pre-determined.

A participant, Sola Olawoyin, said that the exercise was too cumbersome and faulty, adding many of the bidders were unable to participate.

Mrs Olawoyin said that the minimum prices on the cars were too high and the timing for the bidding skewed by the auctioneers to favour certain participants.

She described the exercise as “charade”, calling on the commission to adopt more transparent methods in the future.

(NAN)