The People’s Democratic Party in Edo State has called on Governor Godwin Obaseki to begin prosecution of National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and other persons connected with the awarding, poor execution and commissioning of the state multi-billion naira five-star Benin City Central Hospital.
PDP said its call was based on last week’s reports that the Edo State mulled probing the central hospital.
The PDP commended Governor Obaseki for taking a bold step to calling for a probe into the building despite the fact that he was a part of the government that initiated the project.
State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, also urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to begin its anti-corruption crusade from Edo State
Chief Orbih noted that for the state government must have gotten evidence for it to have come out to say that the project was fraudulent and a scam.
Orbih said the hospital was built at an inflated rate when compared with others in its neighbouring states.
His words, “By 2016, the government had wasted over N10,267,413,000.00 and every year, the Obaseki Government have been allocating and spending millions of Naira to “complete” the already commissioned project.
“By way of comparison, the specialist new hospital (NOT WARD) in Calabar with comprehensive package of secondary gynaecology, obstetrics, paediatrics, internal medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedics, laboratory services, Basic cardiology, Dermatology and other medical services was built, equipped and commissioned at a cost of N6.4 Billion. The Akwa Ibom and Bauchi specialists hospitals were constructed at even lower costs”, he said.
“Before the government will come out with a statement that the central hospital today is a fraud, a scam, they must have seen even more documents than the ones that are available to the public.
“They have come to a conclusion that that project is a scam. What is expected by the government is to immediately put in place actions that will bring all those connected with the fraud to book.
“They should be charged to court and let do justice to the case. It has been established by the government that the contract was overinflated, the contract awarded was fully paid for and those who were supposed to supply the system failed to supply the equipment which they were paid.
“Interestingly, after several past denials and defense by Godwin Obaseki’s government, they have now come out to admit that the project is a fraud.
“They stated that the phased opening of the Hospital to public use is as a result of fraud in the contract and non-supply of equipment fully paid for by the government,” he said.