Edo Ultra modern hospital; Oshiomhole’s straightforward approach to Obaseki’s cunning move

Edo Ultra modern hospital: The Truth about Oshiomhole and Obaseki

It is now common knowledge that Governor Obaseki has deviated his primary responsibility from governance into battling and blackmailing his predecessor and the National chairman of his supposed party Comr Adams Oshiomole.

 

Haven failed on several occasions with all his futile attempt to remove Adams Oshiomole as National chairman of the party, probably because Obaseki knows he has failed the party as a Governor so do not deserve a return ticket from the party, otherwise why is he so keen on ensuring the removal of the National chairman even if it means spending every kobo meant for the development of the state, the Governor have therefore resulted to cheap blackmail of the National chairman in order to defame the National chairman and get sympathy from the people.



The most recent is the kangaroo judicial committee set up by the Governor and as expected the sentimental report submitted by the obviously compromised commission of inquiry, to deliberately indict the National chairman.

 

I am particularly pleased that the Governor Obaseki has shift grounds on his initial accusation and cheap blackmail that the central hospital was not standardly built, and again he has also contradicted his earlier circulated propaganda via his media urchins that the equipments at the central hospital were transported from stella Obasanjo hospital, it is good he has justified Oshiomhole submission that the 75% upfront payment, were used for it’s purpose for equipments, and were delivered to the newly built hospital, Edo people can deduce via this that Obaseki is simply trying so hard to blackmail his predecessor and national chairman Comr Adams Oshiomole.

 

Haven failed woefully in all his previous attempt to ridicule the name of the National chairman, he has of course seek new method to continue his cheap blackmail and witch hunting, he has now resulted to blackmailing the National chairman using procurement law, with claims that the past administration paid 75% of the contract sum upfront for the project to Vamed engineering. It is rather most disappointing that Mr. Governor forgets that the state executive council has capacity to approve for such upfront, which was rightly done by the past administration and of course Obaseki was a member of the state executive council then, is his brain failing him already? What does he not recall.

 

In all of this there’s only one good news and that is the fact that former Governor Oshiomole has been justified from Obaseki’s initial accusations and claims that funds meant for the procurement of the Hospital’s equipments were diverted and squandered for other purpose.



At the initial stage where this Judicial commission of inquiry was set up by the Governor, everyone including the National chairman could sense the compromised nature of the said committee haven been categorized with personal sentiment of the Governor’s desire to deliberately indict the National chairman even though he was part and parcel of everything that happened concerning the erection of the building and procurement of equipments to the central hospital, that is why a blood brother to the Governor is a member of that said judicial commission.

 

The National chairman sensing the sentimental nature of the judicial commission of inquiry has since approached a court of competent jurisdiction.

 

The National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress and the former Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, filed the action before the Benin Division of the Federal High Court for the enforcement of his fundamental rights over the Benin Specialists Hospital.

 

In the Originating Motion dated 25th of March, 2020 which was made available to TheNigeriaLawyer (TNL), Respondents in the suit are Edo State Government, Attorney-General of Edo State, Justice J.U. Oyomire (rtd.), Professor Emmanuel E. Obaseiki-Ebor, Mrs. Elizabeth Uwaifo, Enemaku Hilary Igemoh, Anthony Izevbekhale, Inspector General of Police and Department of State Security.



In Motion with Suit No: FHC/B/CS/40/2020 signed by his counsel, Nnamonso Udo Ekanem (SAN), Adam’s Oshiomole is seeking the following reliefs:

1. A DECLARATION that the action of the 1st Respondent in constituting the 3rd to 7th Respondents into a COMMISSION OF INQUIRY to probe the Applicant’s building and award of contracts for the building of the Benin Specialists Hospital in Benin City without notice of the Applicant or inviting the Applicant to state his own side on the issue Constitutes a gross violation of the FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE APPLICANT to a fair hearing as enshrined in section 36 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)…

 

Oshiomole’s suit accompanied by an Affidavit of 7 paragraphs wherein he swore that the Benin Specialists Hospital was Commissioned and remained intact under his administration till he handed over power to the current governor. He accused Governor Obaseki of swearing to pull him (Oshiomole) down and has been making efforts to remove him as the National Chairman of APC.



Oshiomole swore that the Commission of inquiry set up by Governor Obaseki had never invited him to explain anything to them and the said committee has a blood brother of the Governor, Professor Emmanuel E. Obaseiki-Ebor, as a member who is the 4th Respondent in this suit constitutes a situation of the said GOVERNOR GODWIN OBASEKI becoming a JUDGE IN HIS OWN CAUSE and constitutes a violation of one of the principles of Fair hearing is NEMO DAT IN CAUSA SUA and amounts to a violation of the Right the Applicant as enshrined in section 36 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

 

Adams Oshiomole also sought a declaration that “if before, during or after the filing of this application, 2nd – 6th Defendants produce any report as the product of Commission of Inquiry, the said report is rendered null and void, same having being arrowed at in gross violation of the Fundamental Rights of the Applicant”. (End of quote of application).

 

If really the Governor did not set up the commission in order to continue his witch-hunting of his benefactor Adams Oshiomhole, then Obaseki’s sentimental Judicial commission indictment will be incomplete without indicting the Governor himself because just two years ago, the 11th day of September 2018 to be precised , the same government received “GOODS COMPLETION CERTIFICATE” from Vamed engineering, which is for the “supply & installation of medical equipment to the new accident and emergency unit and 200 bed ward complex at the five star central hospital”,(certificate attached below) was Oshiomhole still Governor as at then, why didn’t Obaseki make this claims of procurement as at then?

 

Let us now dwell on th real state of the hospital, I have continued to say this, Oshiomhole has not done anything wrong to have seen the need to give Edo people a world class hospital, let’s remove Obaseki and see how the next Governor will put the hospital to good use, no matter who the next Governor would be, he sure wouldn’t lock up that hospital the way Obaseki has done so just to propagate evil against his benefactor and National Chairman who have been eventually to an enemy.



I can still recall September 2019 where the former Governor of the state and now National Chairman of APC Comrade Adams Oshiomhole made some statements about this same issues, he said,

“I felt terribly bad and embarrassed that as governor, I decided that we should not lament the poor state of health facilities in Edo state particularly the Central hospital that was built in 1903. So we built what I call a 5-star hospital and I deliberately went out to look for a competent Commissioner for Health, a professor of Medicine from UNIBEN to superintend over the procurement process and we ensured that we brought state of the art equipment to that hospital. We built the hospital with Edo tax payers money. We gave the contract to Vermed Nigeria limited, VERMED is well known for manufacturing hospital equipment.

 

They operate in many African countries. We placed orders for them to supply equipment which they did even though at the time they were given the contract the exchange rate was 195 per dollar. By the time they finished their processes the naira had been devalued. But thanks to the governor of Central Bank, he assisted to ensure that we had access to forex at the old rate and they got their dollars at N308 to a dollar. Before I left government I paid 75 per cent of the total value. All I expected my successor to do was to pay the balance. But this hospital was locked up and I read in the newspapers every day my political opponents arguing that there was nothing in the hospital. And this hospital was commissioned by President Buhari about one week before I left office. From the equipment that were already delivered, the President was impressed. But after I equipped this hospital it was closed for two years.

 

I kept speaking to the governor, the best way to answer PDP criticisms was to open the hospital. When it is open for business, people who go there for medical treatment will bear us witness. At a point I felt so embarrassed and I went to Aliko Dangote who is a mutual friend of the governor and myself and I said, I am unable to understand why the governor can not open the hospital. Meanwhile the equipment is there with warranty and whether you open the hospital or not those warranties are running and if they run out and tomorrow you have a problem, you need another money to buy equipment or to repair the old one. Aliko Dangote, God will bless him. He told Godwin that if you build a factory and lock it up for two years, what will happen is that the grease will dry up, the oil will dry up and you will invest a lot of money to service the machines before they can be operated. Not to talk about sensitive hospital equipment. He then asked the governor to go and open the hospital. And I get bashed every day because people believe there is nothing inside the hospital.



But I am no more the governor, so I cannot go there to defend myself. I live with this pain even though I did my best to provide that facility to the people of Edo state and indeed Nigerians who are in Edo and may need medical care. When the governor refused to open the hospital after I complained to Dangote, I asked the company to do a documentary on all the equipment at the hospital and I placed it on different Television stations including Channels. When the people saw that, then the public opinion changed. But rather than open this hospital in obedience to public outcry, they decided to set up an inquiry. The inquiry was set up by the Speaker (Adjoto) who was aggrieved because he lost the House of Reps ticket to Peter Akpatason an incumbent lawmaker. So based on his open bitterness, he was encouraged by the state government to set up this panel to rubbish themselves. And then they removed all the documents from the Ministry of Health to give the impression that the construction was a verbal transaction. But the then Commissioner for Health and Housing, brought out their own documents, showing the adverts inviting expression of interest, minutes of the meeting of the Tenders Board where the shortlisting was done, the biddings for the job and the minutes of the meeting where the tenders were open. Everything that happened including a letter from the state Ministry of Health acknowledging that Vermed had provided the equipment that were paid for. Lastly, Vermed was able to show a letter they wrote to the Ministry of Health, Edo state asking them to nominate people for training to manage this sophisticated equipment.

 

At the end of the day the Commissioner said he forwarded letters asking them to get people for training to the governor but he had not received any reply from him more than one year after the letter was written. Now, the members many of whom lost nomination, who were looking for fault went to the hospital to see for themselves and after that, they wrote a report that the state government had no reason to keep the hospital closed. And they asked the state government to open the hospital for public use and pay the outstanding balance to Vermed that supplied the equipment. But the governor decided to manage the hospital through a consultant rather than through the Ministry of Health. I don’t begrudge him on that, those are purely within his discretion. But what is interesting is that this consultant wrote to the MD of Vermed to say that the cutting-edge hospital equipment installed in the hospital will require continuous collaboration between the consultant and Vermed because in their word these are cutting edge technology. That was my dream for Edo people. What I expected the governor to do was the benefit of continuity because that was what we promised Edo people. Even if I was succeeded by a PDP government I don’t think they would have shut that hospital as long as the governor did. We have no argument over money, we have no argument over appointment.



Haven heard all this, I wish to ask that Obaseki stop using central hospital as a way to cheaply blackmail the National Chairman, it is obviously not working because the people are already aware of the real situation of the central hospital .

 

Now for the believers of truth, I wouldn’t ask for too much from you other than to request that you do Justice to this write up by sharing it widely wherever you see it, it is the only way we can defend our believe for the truth.

 

 

Chris Osa Uhunmwangho, narrates from Abuja

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