kernel (AppleIRController) error in os sierra console and how to remove AppleIRController kext

Question

When I have console open for a while, I see the following recurring error (about every minute or so):

error   11:54:38.442473 -0400   kernel  stateNumber is On
error   11:54:44.443962 -0400   kernel  stateNumber is Suspended
error   11:54:59.812599 -0400   kernel  stateNumber is On
error   11:55:05.814085 -0400   kernel  stateNumber is Suspended
error   11:55:20.683909 -0400   kernel  stateNumber is On
error   11:55:26.685270 -0400   kernel  stateNumber is Suspended
error   11:55:35.133940 -0400   kernel  stateNumber is On
error   11:55:41.135341 -0400   kernel  stateNumber is Suspended
error   11:55:44.957541 -0400   kernel  stateNumber is On
error   11:55:50.958927 -0400   kernel  stateNumber is Suspended

All of these errors are related to kernel (AppleIRController), but there are no details in the console to explain further. I managed to locate the kext file and unload it using

sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/com.apple.driver.AppleIRController.kext

but I could not unload it because it has an instance of 1:

(kernel) Can't unload kext com.apple.driver.AppleIRController; classes have instances:
(kernel)     Kext com.apple.driver.AppleIRController class AppleIRController has 1 instance.
Failed to unload com.apple.driver.AppleIRController - (libkern/kext) kext is in use or retained (cannot unload).

Really, I just want to solve the kernel error in the Console by removing the kext file or disabling the AppleIRController.

This post has helped:

How do I uninstall and remove a .kext on Mac OS X?

But still I am unable to remove the AppleIRController kext. I recently updated to OS Sierra, and I suspect there might be some bugs that came along with it (this being just one). Any ideas? Thanks in advance.