Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has accused his predecessor, Godwin Obaseki, of pulling a scam against the people of the South-South state by commissioning the Stella Obasanjo Hospital before leaving office.

The Governor spoke when he, alongside his Deputy, Rt. Hon. Dennis Idahosa and the Commissioner for Health, Dr Cyril Adams Oshiomhole, inspected facilities at the Hospital on the evening of Tuesday, November 26, 2027.

He noted that construction at the facility was still ongoing and equipment was yet to be produced by the last administration before it was hurriedly commissioned.

According to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Okpebholo pledged to immediately correct the structural defects at the hospital so that it could be repositioned to serve the people better.

“After inspecting the facilities, it is clear that nothing was done here by the Obaseki-led administration as they just painted the building and fixed air conditioners to deceive the people into thinking the building was completed. I don’t know what Obaseki and the PDP government did.

“This is a sham. Construction was ongoing when he commissioned the building. This is unacceptable. It is unfair. It is cheating on Edo people. We will come back again to talk with the contractor and see how to commission it for Edo people,” Okpebholo noted.

Oshiomhole says contractor has questions to answer

For his part, the Health Commissioner, who took the Governor around the facilities, said the contractor has a lot of explanations to do regarding the project.

“His Excellency has gone round to see the work and we have a lot of talking to do with the consultant and contractor because we thought that by now, the work would have been almost ready.

“This building was commissioned by the last administration politically, but coming here it is like an abandoned building on the other side. A lot of explanations need to be done at this point.

“I came here with a team of doctors, surgeons and other medical experts so that they will have their input and there were some structural defects we saw. We alerted the contractor and promised to correct those errors,” he said.