The suspended Edo Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Samson Osagie, has denied committing any financial infraction.

Mr Osagie, in a statement on Thursday in Benin, vowed to prove his innocence.

“My attention has just been drawn to a Government special announcement in which I was alleged to have been engaged in financial infractions with the chairman of the Local Government Service Commission and, therefore, suspended.

“Let me state unequivocally that I am not and was never involved in any financial dealing with anyone nor committed any financial infraction of any kind.

“I was also not confronted with the said allegations by anyone before my suspension was announced.

“I shall be ready, willing, and prepared to defend myself and prove my innocence in order to clear my name and hard-earned reputation, which I have laboured to build over the years,” he said.

Musa Ikhilor, Secretary to the Edo government, had announced the suspension of Mr Osagie alongside Damian Lawani, the chairman of the Local Government Service Commission, over allegations of grave official and financial infractions.

The embattled commissioner, a former House of Representatives member, was suspended less than three months in office.

Governor Monday Okpebholo earlier suspended Ahmed Momoh, executive director of the State Flood Erosion and Watershed Management Agency (FEWMA), over alleged insubordination.

(NAN)