Oborevwori Lifts Izeze’s Suspension, Sets 10-Week Resumption Date
Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, has lifted the suspension of the Commissioner for Works (Highways and Urban Roads), Reuben Izeze, directing him to return to office after the suspension completes 10 weeks.
Oborevwori announced the decision on Tuesday during the swearing-in of the Auditor-General and members of the governing councils of the University of Delta, Southern Delta University and Dennis Osadebay University at Unity Hall, Government House, Asaba.
The governor said the commissioner had appealed for forgiveness and was prepared to face the public over the circumstances surrounding his suspension. He said Izeze sent him a message earlier on Tuesday asking for forgiveness and requesting that the governor tell the public he had just returned from the correctional facility.
“Let me talk for a minute about one commissioner who was suspended. He sent me a message this morning that I should forgive him.
“He doesn’t know me, and he was telling me what to say; that I should tell the public that he is just coming from Okere prison. Is that my business?
“I always tell people that my kind of system is different. If someone like me has changed my style, this is not the sheriff of 20 years ago. So when you are in government, you must behave well because nobody is above the law.”
Oborevwori said Izeze’s decision to plead for forgiveness and appear before the public influenced his decision to lift the suspension, although he noted that the stipulated period had not yet elapsed.
“But because you have pleaded and really removed that shame and you came to face the public, even as people know that you are under suspension, from where you were suspended is not yet two months,” Oborevwori said.
He added, “But I will say that when it completes 10 weeks from the day of your suspension, you can resume work.”
Izeze was suspended indefinitely on August 10 following allegations linking him to the assault of the governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Protocol, Simon Mudi, popularly known as Temple, during an APC stakeholders’ meeting at the Petroleum Training Institute in Effurun.
The state government said the suspension was intended to allow security agencies to conduct an impartial investigation into the allegations without interference.
Izeze was also arraigned before a High Court sitting in Effurun over the alleged assault and was remanded at the Nigerian Correctional Service facility in Okere, Warri, pending further proceedings.
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