AHEAD of President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign visit to Edo State on Thursday for next month’s election, the state chairman of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Dan Orbih, has drawn his attention to the continued closure of the multi-billion naira Central Hospital, Benin, over two years after it was commissioned by Buhari.
In an open letter in Benin on Wednesday, to Buhari, Orbih reminded that former Governors Adams Oshiomole, the current national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) built and purportedly equipped the five-star hospital which Buhari commissioned in November of 2016, shortly before Oshiomole left office.
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He expressed his belief that it will be of interest to know that since his visit in 2016, the hospital has neither recorded any out-patient nor admitted any in-patient as the building plays host only to rodents and reptiles.
The Edo PDP chairman alleged: “It is now obvious that Oshiomhole cleverly executed the project as a scam to defraud the state and deny the people access to good health facilities, a situation that has led to hundreds of avoidable deaths.”
Orbih said that the PDP’s concern over this despicable act is not just that billions of taxpayers’ money were sunk into this phoney project, but that he (Buhari) was persuaded to commission a non-existent hospital that makes it look like he was party to the deceit and fraud.
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He said: “Edo people are now used to the fact that Adams Oshiomhole can do anything to deceive the people to enrich himself, we are embarrassed at the attempt to use your personality to commission a building that has only served as a centre for internally displaced reptiles in Benin City as well as a conduit pipe for milking Edo State and its people.”
Orbih continued: “Finally, Mr President we urge you to pay a second visit to the central Hospital to enable you to appreciate the disappointment of the people over this central Hospital scandal of fraud and deceit. We call on you to use your office to direct relevant government agencies to commence the immediate investigation and necessary action to bring the principal actors to book.”
He urged the President to prevail on Edo State government to avail Edo people the dividends of democracy, particularly in the health sector
and then