The opposition Peoples Democratic Occasion in Edo State, on Wednesday, took on Governor Monday Okpebholo and his Commissioner for Well being, Dr Cyril Adam Oshiomhole, for claiming that the immediate-past governor, Godwin Obaseki, did a shoddy job on the recently-inaugurated Stella Obasanjo Hospital in Benin.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on November 6, 2024, on the twilight of Obaseki’s administration, inaugurated the 270-bed hospital amid fanfare.
The hospital, named after the spouse of the previous president, Stella, sited on the Nation Residence Street, Off Sapele Street, Benin Metropolis, was rebuilt and expanded by the Obaseki administration.
Following his inauguration as Commissioner for Well being, Dr Cyril Adam Oshiomhole inspected the hospital and uncovered “development errors.”
On Tuesday night, the governor visited and described the inauguration of the hospital by the previous administration as a sham.
He mentioned development work on the facility was ongoing, and tools had but to be procured.
He pledged to right the structural defects to reposition the hospital to serve the individuals higher.
Obaseki, nonetheless, kicked, lamenting the continual resort to baseless allegations, falsehoods, and lies to discredit and tarnish his picture.
He described the efforts by the brand new administration as diversionary techniques to deflect consideration from its cluelessness and lack of plans for the event of the state.
Okpebhole, talking when he inspected the services alongside the Deputy Governor, Dennis Idahosa; and Dr Oshiomhole, famous: “After inspecting the services, it’s clear that nothing was completed right here by the Obaseki-led administration as they simply painted the constructing and stuck air conditioners to deceive the individuals to assume the constructing was accomplished.
“This can be a sham. Development was ongoing when he inaugurated the constructing. That is unacceptable. It’s unfair. It’s dishonest on Edo individuals.
“We are going to come again once more to speak with the contractor and see methods to fee it for using Edo individuals.”
Dr Oshiomhole, who took the governor across the services, mentioned the contractor had plenty of explanations to make relating to the venture.
“The governor has gone spherical to see the work and now we have plenty of speaking to do with the guide and contractor as a result of we thought that by now, the work would have been virtually prepared.
“This constructing was inaugurated by the final administration politically, however coming right here, it’s like an deserted constructing on the opposite aspect. A number of explanations have to be made at this level.
“I got here right here with a workforce of docs, surgeons and different medical specialists in order that they are going to have their enter and there have been some structural defects we noticed. We alerted the contractor and he promised to right these errors.”
However defending Obaseki, the Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Occasion mentioned Okpebholo and Oshiomhole lacked the ethical grounds to talk on requirements of the Stella Obasanjo Hospital or another hospital within the state.
In a press release by the Publicity Secretary of the PDP Caretaker Committee, Chris Nehikhare, the get together mentioned it was ironic and laughable that Cyril, whose father, Adams Oshiomhole, had overseen the flawed development of the specialist hospital as governor — a venture by which a bit collapsed as a consequence of structural defects, killing two harmless residents — would communicate on the requirements of any hospital.
“We’re appalled and totally disillusioned by the petty, childish and ignoble behaviour of the Monday Okpebholo-led administration in making an attempt to decrease the simple influence of the Stella Obasanjo Hospital on the state’s healthcare system.
“It’s broadly acknowledged by anybody who has visited or used the hospital that it ranks as the most effective within the South-South area, if not all the nation and this was made potential by the large funding made by the immediate-past authorities of Godwin Obaseki, in upgrading and equipping the hospital to world-class requirements.
“We aren’t stunned by the infantile criticism coming from a clueless and incompetent authorities.
“Had they been discerning, they’d have recognized that it’s to the credit score of the state and its authorities {that a} hospital of such significance and influence is positioned within the state and wouldn’t have desperately sought to decrease this for petty political causes.”
Additionally reacting on Obaseki’s behalf, his media adviser, Crusoe Osagie, mentioned no quantity of lies, blackmail, and propaganda by Governor Okpebholo and his media hirelings might blemish the previous governor’s legacies.
He mentioned Obaseki, in eight years, efficiently remodeled the fortunes of the individuals and positioned the state on the trail of accelerated development and prosperity.
In a press release on Wednesday, Osagie mentioned, “The vacuity and cluelessness of the Monday Okpebholo-led authorities was laid naked in its most up-to-date polemic, the place it fruitlessly sought to denigrate the immediate-past governor of the state, whose illustrious legacy of service to Edo State remodeled the fortunes of the individuals and positioned the state on the trail of progress and prosperity.
“If something, Godwin Obaseki has firmly etched his title in gold within the annals of Edo State’s historical past by means of the massive, daring, transformative, and impactful tasks that dot the nooks and crannies of the state, and regardless of the lies or blackmail, these legacies can’t be blemished.
“We urge the clueless authorities of Monday Okpebholo to chorus from their divisive techniques and resort to lies and propaganda, and as an alternative concentrate on governance and delivering developmental tasks for the good thing about the state and its individuals if certainly they’ve any clear imaginative and prescient or agenda to supply,” Osagie added.
