Chairman of the Edo State Local Government Service Commission, Dr. Simon Imuekemhe, has been reported dead.
Igbere TV gathered that the appointee of the Edo state government died in the early hours of Thursday, February 18.
He reportedly battled an undisclosed ailment — which he is believed to have died from — and has been in and out of the hospital.
Although no formal statement from the family, a friend of the deceased who announced his passing, described the late Imuekemhe as loving.
Dr Simon Imuekemhe was a former Edo Head of Service. He was appointed as Secretary to Edo State Government (SSG) by the then Governor Adams Oshiomhole in 2011.
Imuekemhe was appointed a permanent secretary in 1999 during the Lucky Igbinedion administration. He was deployed to Government House and later moved to the Board of Internal Revenue, where he served as Permanent Secretary/Chairman of the board from 2000 to 2005.
Imuekemhe, aged 66, was appointed the Edo Head of Service in 2005 from where he retired in February before becoming Oshiomhole’s SSG in 2011 until the end of tenure in 2012.
He was in 2014 remanded in prison by a court order alongside three others on eight count charges of diversion of funds allegedly committed in 2012, among others.
The particulars of the offense said Imuekemhe, being the the then SSG had conspired with the three to divert a total sum of N113m, being the state UBE fund to another project not covered by the intervention funds.
Meanwhile, friends and political associates have taken to social media to mourn the deceased Imuekemhe, describing him as an incredible person.
Among the early mourners was the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the Edo 2020 governorship election, Osagie Ize-Iyamu.
He described the development as a sad one, noting that the deceased was a principled, reliable and hardworking person.
Ize-Iyamu wrote; “Very sad. He was a great man who devoted himself to the service of the state and his community. He was brilliant, hardworking, accessible, compassionate and humane.
“He was a reliable and principled person. We will certainly miss him. Adieu and may his soul rest in perfect peace,” Pastor Ize-Iyamu concluded.
