JUST IN: Umahi Recalls Suspended Lagos Federal Controller Of Works

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, on Sunday announced the recall of the Federal Controller of Works for Lagos State, Olukorede Kesha, who was earlier suspended following the closure of the Independence Bridge in the state, describing her act as a honest mistake.

Speaking on an interview with the Arise TV, Umahi acknowledged that while the controller acted unilaterally in shutting down the bridge, her decision was driven by genuine safety concerns.

He explained that the Controller had presented photographic evidence of structural cracks on the bridge, which posed a significant threat to public safety and could have led to a tragic loss of lives if ignored.

He partly said: “I was very disturbed, because the closure of the bridge process, should have been reported to the perm secretary,in writing and of course through WhatsApp messages, because it’s an emergency situation, and then the perm secretary would have also reported to me, and of course in emergency situation while you’re reporting to perm secretary, you’re also copying me as the minister because it’s an emergency situation.

” That was not done, so we temporarily placed her on suspension to ascertain why that was not done, so she presented to us the pictures of the bridge as it was when she was closing it, and we saw there was a very big crack and if that bridge was not closed at that time, it would have led to multiple traffic accidents, and lives would have been lost.

“When we looked at it, we agreed with her that there was a need to close that bridge, the only mistake was that she should have escalated the closure at the time she did.

“After we looked at the whole thing in the ministry, we decided to recall her and pardon her for the honest mistake.”