Edo 2020
PDP Quiet After Putting Obaseki, Oshiomhole To War
By GWG Staff
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Edo State was at the weekend surprisingly keeping away as the internal conflict between the rival factions of the All Progressives Congress, APC moved over to the Specialist Hospital in Benin.
The hospital has turned into a fighting field for the war of supremacy between Governor Godwin Obaseki and his former political patron and predecessor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
A judicial inquiry initiated by Governor Obaseki had in its report made public last Thursday indicted the Oshiomhole administration of a breach of the procurement laws. The enquiry headed by Justice James Oyomire (rtd) specifically indicted the Oshiomhole administration of paying 75% of the contract sum as mobilization fees against extant laws.
However, despite turning the issue of the Specialist Hospital into a political battle axe to get the ascendancy over his former boss, Obaseki who served as the chairman of the Oshiomhole Economic Management Team was at the first on the sidelines when issues about the hospital were first raised.
Obaseki who served as the chairman of the Oshiomhole Economic Management Team was at the first on the sidelines when issues about the hospital were first raised.
The PDP acting through its state executive, especially its immediate past chairman, Chief Dan Orbih proved to be a thorn in the flesh of the Oshiomhole administration over issues concerning the hospital.
The Benin Specialist Hospital contract was initially awarded for N2.7 billion before it was varied to N3 billion.
However, while under construction a part of the hospital collapsed. Accounts of loss of lives during the construction turned into speculations and have not been confirmed.
The collapse of part of the hospital in June 2012 was one of the issues that drew the salvo of the PDP.
The Oshiomhole administration constituted a panel drawn from various interest groups to investigate the collapse.
Among the interest groups in the panel representatives of the Nigeria Society of Engineers, NSE, Nigeria Institute of Architects, NIA, Council of Registered Builders and the Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors.
Two years after when the panel submitted its report, Orbih who had a knack for ferreting documents from the Oshiomhole government weighed in at a press conference.
Alleging that work on the hospital was poorly done on account of the award to supposedly inexperienced contractors, the PDP through Orbih at a press conference accused Oshiomhole of failing to provide the enabling environment for the project consultants to finish what they started by not engaging them in the post-contract services, including implementation and supervision of the project.
He said that the main contractor, SCInt, was selected without any input from the project architects and that the state government failed in awarding the contract to an inexperienced contractor.
Two years after when the panel submitted its report, Orbih who had a knack for ferreting documents from the Oshiomhole government weighed in
“Clearly, there was no proper project planning for this construction project. In this case, proper monitoring and quality control by government, ministries, and the consultants were conspicuously ignored. Ministry of Works failed to meet up with the challenge of overseeing the successful completion of the project,” he said.
The PDP added that the report also faulted the project architect, Tom Ikimi Design Co., over the design of the raft foundation of the project and recommended that the entire building be brought down.
Even when the Oshiomhole administration awarded the contract for the reconstruction of the collapsed part of the building, the PDP was still unrelenting alleging that the recommendation for a complete demolition had not been heeded.
Orbih at a press conference drew followed assertions that a more experienced contractor in the person of Messrs S & A Construction Company was awarded the contract with a one-year completion period.
Rather, Orbih challenged the state government to publish the report of the panel that probed the collapsed hospital building.
“We cannot fold our arms and watch this government endanger the lives of innocent people. The lives of the people is important to us as a stake-holder in the state.
“We challenge the Edo State government to publish the report of the findings of the panel. We will challenge this in court as we will not allow more people to be killed”, promised the PDP chairman.
“The initial sum of the project was N2.7 billion. They later increased it to N3 billion before the disaster. Now, they have come out saying that they have re-awarded it. We ask the state government, how much of the initial sum was paid the old contractor and how much was paid the new contractors?”
The company completed the construction work within the given period enough for President Muhammadu Buhari to commission it just before Oshiomhole left office in November 2016.
At its commissioning the hospital was termed a five-star hospital with the capacity to carry out a wide range of treatments normally not available in the country.
However, apparently reserved about what he met the Obaseki government did not put it into use sparking early claims of differences between the governor and his predecessor.
Obaseki’s initial plan was reportedly to involve the private sector into the running of the hospital. However, the plan never left the ground.
The plan to bring in private sector participants to run the hospital was seriously lampooned by Orbih. Remarkably the PDP was joined by some stakeholders including the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, and the Edo Coalition for Good Health and Healthy Living (ECGHHL) in opposing the private sector participation.
The group in a statement signed by Dr Isaac Osato, queried, “Now the governor is talking about privatizing the new hospital, will the staff in the new structure be paid higher wages to the detriment of those who have made sacrifices to remain in the system despite their poor pay?
Orbih while querying the arraignment said:
“What is the financial equity contribution of the faceless partners in Edo State Central hospital ward? The cost for the construction of the Calabar Specialist Hospital with a comprehensive package of secondary, gynecology, obstetrics, pediatrics, internal medicine, general surgery, orthopedics laboratory services, basic neology and basic cardiology, dermatology, urology, and eye surgery was N6.4 billion.
At its commissioning the hospital was termed a five-star hospital with the capacity to carry out a wide range of treatments normally not available in the country.
“The state government’s capital outlay was set at N3.2 billion while the balance of the financial requirement would be sourced by the concessionaire, UCL Healthcare Services Limited, as its equity contribution to the project in the true spirit of Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
“The Ibom Specialist Hospital in Akwa Ibom State will cost N12.75 billion with 303-bed facilities, VIP and VVIP Ward, 1.5 Tesla MRI 640 slides CT Scan, Digital Mammography, Endoscopy Surgery, open heart and transplant surgeries, highly sophisticated intensive care unit, Paperless and Pneumatic delivery Services, Fully automated labs and dialysis units, Medical Gas Plants and Helipad for Emergency Evacuation.”
“In an interview this week, Oshiomhole said forex scarcity delayed the supply of equipment. I guess the duo of Oshiomhole and Obaseki did not harmonise their thoughts before speaking to the public,” the opposition leader said.
Responding to the PDP, Oshiomhole said:
“Initially the PDP said I did not build any hospital, that it was a fraud. So if I did not build a hospital what is it that the governor wants to privatize that they are complaining about? So it tells you again part of the contradictions and mischief of PDP.
“What I discussed with the governor even before I left office was that having used public funds to build a five-star hospital and equip it with the state of the art equipment, we have to discuss the issue of management, as it cannot be run like a civil service. It has to be managed by professionals and so the issue of how to manage the hospital is a viable question of the governor and his team to address. If a hospital is to be sold it cannot be sold secretly.
“So if the governor says that he is going to look along the line of PPP and ensure smooth and effective health care services, I don’t think anybody should begrudge the governor. Today people fly to India, if you can save the cost of ticket alone, the cost of the person that accompanies the patient, and you find those facilities available in Benin, I will think that the average Edo person will be happy.
“Nobody can claim to love the people more than the man the people have elected to help them manage their common will. The PDP has been rejected and they will continue to be rejected and they cannot be the one purporting to speak for the good people of Edo state because the good people of Edo state know that Governor Obaseki will never betray them”.
We are embarrassed at the attempt to use your person to commission a building that has only served as a center for internally displaced reptiles
The exchanges, however, did not resolve the issue.
Just before the last General Election as Buhari prepared to campaign in the state, the PDP turned the hospital into an issue for the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Orbih in an open letter to President Buhari ahead of the campaign visit told him that the hospital he commissioned almost three years earlier had yet to start functioning.
The letter which was dated January 16, 2019, affirmed that the hospital has been host to rodents and reptiles having never recorded a single patient.
“Our concern over this despicable act, Mr. President, is not just that billions of taxpayers’ money was sunk into this phoney project, but you were persuaded to commission a non-existent hospital that makes it look like you were party to the deceit and fraud.
“We are embarrassed at the attempt to use your person to commission a building that has only served as a center for internally displaced reptiles in Benin City as well as a conduit pipe for milking Edo state and its people.
“Finally, Mr. President we urge you to pay a second visit to the Central Hospital to enable you appreciate the disappointment of the people over this scandal of fraud and deceit. We call on you to use your office to direct relevant government agencies to commence immediate investigation and necessary action to bring the principal actors to book.”
So when after the initial faceoff between the Oshiomhole and Obaseki factions of the APC that the state government resolved to probe the hospital contracts and underlying issues, the PDP could not have been happier.
Orbih had in a press statement in July 2019 said that while the probe could easily be seen as politically motivated but he said the basic issues of impropriety he claimed shadowed the award and construction of the hospital could not be swept under the carpet.
“Without sounding immodest, Edo PDP as far back as 2012 condemned the inflated award of the contract for the 200-bed Accident and emergency ward complex.
“We condemned the shoddy construction and deceptive commissioning of the project by President Muhammadu Buhari,” he added.
Now that the report is out, the PDP appears to have partly withdrawn to the shadows as the APC combatants engage themselves in a fight to finish!
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