From Tony Osauzo, Benin
The Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has again raised the alarm over an alleged plot by the state government to demolish the over 100-year old Central Hospital Benin and convert it to a motor park.
The party in a statement signed by its Assistant State Publicity Security, Victor Osehobo Ofure, said: ‘The APC has it on good authority that the hospital has been stripped bare while bulldozers are already lined up for the demolition exercise. Our party will not allow this unpatriotic effort of the government to continue because potentially it destroys the fortunes of generations of Edo children.
‘As a party, we are therefore convinced that the current demolition plot which is part of the several schemes by the PDP government to Make Edo Grounded Again (MEGA) must stop. We demand the immediate and unconditional discontinuation of the plot to demolish the Central Hospital.
‘We also demand an immediate and complete cessation of all MoUs or partnerships the Edo State government has entangled itself with, to warrant this sinister move. We want to place Governor Obaseki and his PDP government in particular on notice that the APC will hold them responsible for the extent of their complicity if they attempt to remain silent in the wake of this glaring and dubious attempt to shortchange the people of Edo by swindling them out of their legitimate inheritance.
‘The APC also urge all critical stakeholders and the public to raise their voices in defence of Edo people’s interest against this morbid scheme by those who have made it a duty to ensure that Edo State remains backwards by undermining its historical, economic and social fabrics to stimulate and encourage rampant poverty, and social problems under various guises including this one.’
The party recalled that it earlier raised the alarm over the planned demolition in October, that it saw no wisdom in the reason advanced by the government for the proposed demolition of the hospital which is to make way for an ultra-modern motor park to decongest the city centre and ultimately generate additional revenue for the state.
‘We labelled such thinking as weird and evil but also unacceptable. This is because no right-thinking government will prefer to replace a viable health facility, which it should equip and staff, to better cater for the well-being of the people, with a motor park.
‘The Edo State Government lied in response when it said it was merely transforming rather than demolishing the hospital as most of its facilities were now obsolete and not supportive of modern-day medical service delivery. It said the Central Hospital was being relocated to the Stella Obasanjo Hospital, expanded and improved to deliver quality health services.
‘As it is Governor Obaseki is bent on demolishing the same Central hospital. Yet his predecessor in office, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, some years ago, also saw the need to transform the Central Hospital, Benin City and undertook the task of remodelling and reconstructing a large segment of the Hospital and equipping it with world class facilities, during his tenure,’ the statement added.