#ENDCORRUPTION
#ENDIMPUNITY
#ENDIMMUNITY
#TRANSPARENCY
By Dr. Sota Omoigui
As a third role as broker, again with no checks and balances, Obaseki played the key role of sourcing the first N25 billion from the Capital Market through his company, Afrinvest. For his troubles, Obaseki pocketed N1.5billion commission from the deal, a 6% commission. In short, a man who swims in a cesspool of corruption!! The project was jointly handled by the State Environment Ministry headed by Clement Agba as well as the State Works Ministry headed by the present Secretary to State Government, Osarodion Ogie. As part of the quartet of fraud, Obaseki, Ogie, and Agba regularly accompanied Oshiomhole to inspect the progress of work. They appear to have all now discovered religion!!! But even so, they cannot even agree on how much money was stolen. Obaseki says N30 billion while Agba says N22 billion was paid for 70% of the contract before he left and Obaseki owed the balance of N8 billion. Again Clem Agba indicts Obaseki stating: “As the then chairman of the Edo State Economic team, you were privy to the conception, planning, execution and expenditure on the project.” https://www.tell.ng/alleged-fraud-in-edo-storm-water-projects-clem-agba-buharis-minister-writes-governor-obaseki/ Where is the civil service?? Where are the auditors? Where is EFCC? Where is ICPC?? A suya seller has better financial controls than the Edo state government under Obaseki and Oshiomhole.
The Origin
In 1280 to 1295, Oba Oguola, of the great Benin Empire, without modern earth moving equipment, constructed the Benin Moat and Walls, considered to be the largest man-made earthwork and one of the wonders of the world.
In 2015, 735 years later, the descendants of the great Empire, Obaseki, Oshiomhole, Ogie and Agba conceived and supervised the largest fraudulent earthworks, the world has ever known, called the Benin Storm water project.
They all should have been nominated for the Nobel prize for physics, because according to Obaseki, it was designed to drain water from the lowland to the highland, thereby violating all the existing laws of physics. The Benin Storm Water project should be considered the ninth most corrupt wonder of the world.
On February 23rd 2021, Obaseki while inspecting the Benin Storm water drain, for which he was the consultant, declared it a monumental fraud on the Edo people https://guardian.ng/news/n30b-benin-stormwater-project-was-a-fraud-obaseki-declares/
The N30 billion project was conceived and designed to violate the laws of physics and drain water from a low land to a higher ground. This quartet of fraud would have been the first in human history to achieve such results.
However, like Mungo Park who discovered the River Niger where natives had lived for thousands of years, Obaseki like the Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse, had his eureka moment 13 years later and discovered that the project drains water to nowhere.
He then threatens to probe the previous Oshiomhole administration and recover the monies that were stolen through this project that he had conceived, consulted, borrowed, pocketed the commission, implemented and supervised for Oshiomhole!!!
Obaseki appears to be in a dissociative state of anesthesia. He routinely forgets that he was an integral part of the the Oshiomhole administration. Or maybe he is trying to fool all of the Edo people all of the time. My advice to Obaseki is to run up to a mirror and arrest the first person that shows up.
One of those fraudsters given special mention by Obaseki, was Clement Agba, former commissioner for Environment under the Oshiomhole administration and currently the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning of the Federal Government.
As the old saying goes, there is no honor among thieves. In response to Obaseki’s threat to probe the previous administration, his old political party, the APC, have decided to wash his dirty linen in public.
To refresh your mind, in a master class of political corruption, Obaseki decamped, from APC to PDP after failing to obtain the gubernatorial nomination. APC have now dared Obaseki to carry out his threat to probe himself and his cohorts.
They have provided the missing parts of the corrupt enterprise called the Benin Storm Water project. https://sparknewsng.blogspot.com/2021/02/edo-apc-dares-governor-obaseki-to-probe.html
The party, in a statement by its State Publicity Secretary, Chris Azebamwan, urged the governor to institute the storm water probe and make its findings public so that the very enlightened and informed Edo people would know the truth of the matter.
Obaseki as the chairman of the Economic and Strategy Team for the prior Oshiomhole administration, used his company Afrinvest as Consultants to the project and drafted the project proposal.
Obaseki in his dual role as consultant and as the Head of Economic team, and without any regards for conflict of interest, presented the project for approval to the State Executive Council and followed it up by short listing contractors for the project.
As a third role as broker, again with no checks and balances, Obaseki played the key role of sourcing the first N25 billion from the Capital Market through his company, Afrinvest. For his troubles, Obaseki pocketed N1.5billion commission from the deal, a 6% commission. In short, a man who swims in a cesspool of corruption!!
The project was jointly handled by the State Environment Ministry headed by Clement Agba as well as the State Works Ministry headed by the present Secretary to State Government, Osarodion Ogie.
As part of the quartet of fraud, Obaseki, Ogie, and Agba regularly accompanied Oshiomhole to inspect the progress of work. They appear to have all now discovered religion!!! But even so, they cannot even agree on how much money was stolen.
Obaseki says N30 billion while Agba says N22 billion was paid for 70% of the contract before he left and Obaseki owed the balance of N8 billion. Again Clem Agba indicts Obaseki stating: “As the then chairman of the Edo State Economic team, you were privy to the conception, planning, execution and expenditure on the project”. https://www.tell.ng/alleged-fraud-in-edo-storm-water-projects-clem-agba-buharis-minister-writes-governor-obaseki/
Where is the civil service?? Where are the auditors? Where is EFCC? Where is ICPC?? A suya seller has better financial controls than the Edo state government under Obaseki and Oshiomhole.
Let us hear the words of Tonnie Iredia as published on March 7th, 2021:
“In the case of Edo, the storm water project valued at N30 billion is not only too huge to be toyed with, the consequence of leaving the state capital flooded is too grave to be pushed aside.
The water project is therefore not one whose probe should be delayed. We are not unaware of efforts by some people to politicize the project by raising some irrelevant issues.
First, there is the argument that the governor should have known that the entire budget of N30billion had not been spent – an argument which further justifies the need for a probe.
Apart from the fact that the argument does not controvert the original value of the project, the state is entitled to knowing the exact amount already expended, and the correlation between the unspent balance and what remains to be done.
Can the amount yet to be spent, complete the job? If not, under which segment was money over-spent?
How much is involved and how can it be retrieved? Besides, is it true that part of the funds made available for the project was allegedly shared? These are some of the issues that immediately render the probe inevitable.
In developed societies where Auditors have the required independence and strength of character to perform, a probe would probably be unnecessary; but in our clime where a leader can over-rule professionals, it is only through an enquiry that facts can be seamlessly exposed.
There is also the blackmail by some people who are planning to indict members of the present government who were part of the previous administration. Such threats are honestly in favour of the state.
All those who have facts that would expose what anyone including the current governor did in the past, are welcome to play the role of good citizens by providing such facts”
In summary, Obaseki can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.
The Origins of the Fraud
On November 6th, 2015, Pastor Ize-Iyamu published an article titled: The Benin Storm Water project where he described the plundering of Edo State by Oshiomhole. I take liberties to reproduce excerpts of his article below.
“I was therefore very delighted when Governor Adams Oshiomhole announced the commencement of the Benin Storm Water Project, Programmed to de-flood the whole of Siluko area, Ekenwan, Ogida, Ogbe, Airport, Uwasota and greater part of Ugbowo all to Ogba River.
The advisability of doing this project was predicated on a study conducted by a South African Firm called Aurecon who were paid a staggering sum of N450 Million for just the report. The project execution was given to Hitech, a construction company based in Lagos for a whopping cost of N30Billion which was sourced from the Capital market.
A project of this magnitude ought to have been processed in a very transparent manner with regards to award and costing procedure but as it has become customary with Oshiomhole’s government, a less transparent method was adopted devoid of competitive bidding.
Undermining these shortcomings, Edo people waited with hope and expectation for the successful completion of this projects which would have been a watershed achievement.
One year to the end of the Oshiomhole’s administration, we are informed that the project completion will take 30 years. The question agitating the mind of Edo people is when did the government realise that this project will take 30 years to complete?
The question is necessary because at no time in the project conception or award were Edo people told this completion period. Rather the impression created was that with the money sourced from the Capital Market and the award and deployment of the contractors to site, the project would be completed in record time.
With the contract sum almost exhausted we are constrained to ask, who will pay the contractors for the next 30 years and how much remains unpaid? Professional assessment of what Hitech has done revealed that the contract is 30% completed. Who will pay the balance 70% of the contract that is yet completed?
What has prompted this post is not even the shocking new date of completion or the abysmal 30% work executed but the ominous signs, experts have observed with regards to the work done, which not only expose a shoddy execution of a very sensitive and technical project but should God forbid, trigger a major disaster comparable to the Ogunpa flood and erosion disaster of the 1980’s and 1990’s in Ibadan, Oyo State.
It has been observed that when it rains, Ogba River now experience unprecedented flooding and the bridge is sometimes, submerged while some houses by the river basin or bank of the river have been completely destroyed.
If the Benin Storm Water Project at 30% completion is already causing such great damage, what will happen when the project is 100% completed if something drastic is not done and very urgently too.
As is well known in project management, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Impact and Socio Economic Assignment (EISEA) are usually done before major engineering projects are done to avoid negative outcome or consequences.
The need for remediation or preventive or mitigative measures are assessed before plans are made for resettlement and income amelioration, as the case may be. In the Benin Water Storm Project, it is doubtful if due studies were done given the signs now manifesting.
Had proper planning encompassing EIA, EISEA, and a baseline survey been done, safety valves would have been put in the project execution from the onset. Ogba River suffers massive siltation due to the huge volume of flood and erosion that empty into it as a result of the high and aggressive urbanization.
The vegetational cover of the river bank has since been de-wooded and deforested by farmers and loggers, exposing the banks to erosion of its own. Several persons channel their effluent to the river without control or check from government thereby destroying the aquatic diversity of the river.”
No Country for Honest Men
As a member of the Edo Advisory Group set up by Obaseki to write up a policy platform, I arrived for meetings in Benin City in 2008 after Oshiomhole won his gubernatorial appeal.
I drove around with Osarodion Ogie, when he went to inspect road projects that they told me would be awarded to the international and reputable contractor Julius Berger. I had great hopes for Edo State that honest men had come to power.
It took me just a few days of discussions with them to know that Oshiomhole and these men would be no different from the corrupt leaders that came before them and after the Ogbemudia administration.
After advising them not to build a new Central hospital but to rehabilitate the existing Central Hospital, I endorsed the health care policy platform that I wrote and left. The road projects that were to be awarded to Julius Berger never happened.
The corrupt nature of these men could not allow them to do what was best for Edo State. They just had to have their kickbacks. And the contracts were awarded to their cronies including Hitech construction (owned by Tinubu), a reliable conduit for diversion of funds from the Edo State treasury to their personal bank accounts,
Flashback – Obaseki while campaigning for governorship extolled his great sacrifice for the Edo people by claiming he did not receive a penny of salary during his eight years as head of the economic team for the Oshiomhole administration. Sure, he did not receive any salary.
He only pocketed N2.1 billion as his commission for placing N41.0 billion loans for two worthless projects that Edo State citizens would be paying for generations to come.
Obaseki as head of Oshiomhole’s economic team had sourced the N11 billion loan for the worthless 5 star ultramodern hospital that needs to be demolished, but currently stands as another edifice to monumental fraud. https://elombah.com/the-monumental-fraud-called-the-edo-ultramodern-central-hospital-part-4-by-sota-omoigui/
For his troubles, in adding the worthless hospital loan that generations of Edo children will pay for years and that achieved nothing, Obaseki pocketed N660 million commission.
Meanwhile Edo people will continue to experience sorrow, tears and blood from the complete destruction of tertiary healthcare facilities in the state.
And yes, you who are reading this article will one day swallow the bitter pill as you or your family lose their health, life, limb or eyesight because there are no health care services that should have been provided by this fraud of a worthless ultramodern 5 star hospital. Not a question of if but of when.
Crying Wolf about Probing Oshiomhole
Obaseki knows where Oshiomhole’s assets are. He should stop threatening to probe him. And stop trying to fool the Edo people. He talks too much. To Obaseki…… If you want to probe Oshiomhole, go ahead and probe him.
Let me give you a hint since you no longer remember that you were the brains behind Oshiomhole’s fraud. Take back Edo University in Iyamho, Oshiomhole’s village. It was built with Edo State money and Oshiomhole converted it to his personal property. Edo people want their property back!!!
Let us look at the time line and see how Obaseki ranted and raved about probing his erstwhile godfather Oshiomhole on the monumental Central Hospital Fraud. The report by the Judicial Commission of Inquiry that he initiated is yet to see the light of day. The prosecution of Oshiomhole is yet to happen and will never happen.
September 18th, 2018 – Obaseki wrote a letter of commendation to Vamed Hospital Equipment for having fulfilled the terms of the contract of supply of hospital equipment to the hospital and praying that they should help to train some of the personnel that would be handling this equipment.
January 28th, 2020 – Obaseki ordered a probe of contracts for the construction of the hospital and supply of hospital equipment[1]. The same supply of equipment that he signed for and gave a letter of commendation to the supplier Vamed Hospital Equipment owned by Oshiomhole’s girlfriend.
Obaseki perceives himself as a maradona playing Edo people like a football or just taking them as fools!!
jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.alltimepost.com/2020/01/heads-may-roll-in-edo-as-obaseki-orders-probe-of-benin-specialist-hospital-contracts/&tbnid=Ae1rcUuNC8Ur1M&vet=1&docid=ARKD0hg-Q7PYTM&w=1812&h=2560&hl=en&source=sh/x/im
At the time, Obaseki in a statement by his Special Adviser on Communication & Strategy, Crusoe Osagie said he is burdened by a heavy bill for repairs and irregularities in supply of equipment for use at the medical facility.
“Edo state government is under pressure to set up a Commission of Enquiry to probe the billions sunk into the numerous contracts awarded for the building of the hospital.
“The Commission of Enquiry would have a mandate to ascertain if details of contracts were strictly followed, especially the quality of materials as heavy bills is being incurred for patch up work at the hospital and determine the extent of irregularities regarding the purchase of equipment, among others”.
May 15th, 2020 – The Judicial Commission of Enquiry indicted the administration of the former governor Adams Oshiomhole for breach of the state’s Public Procurement Law.
Justice Oyomire said, Oshiomhole paid 75 per cent of the contract sum upfront for the project to Vamed Engineering. The commission’s eight-point recommendation included that the Ministry of Justice should institute civil and criminal actions against those found culpable in the breach of the law.
And what has happened since then? Absolutely nothing! The whole judicial commission of enquiry was just another waste of Edo State resources and a charade by Obaseki, who was never going to investigate a fraud in which he was complicit.
The Birth of the Oshiomhole Administration
Sometime, in 2008, Obaseki met Oshiomole on a Lagos Benin flight at a time Oshiomole was fighting his appeal at the election tribunal. Knowing that the obioma tailor Oshiomole has no experience in governance, Obaseki offered to show him the ropes free of charge.
Obaseki set up an Edo Advisory Group policy team to write up a policy platform. Obaseki called me in the USA to write the healthcare platform for Edo State. When Oshiomole won his appeal, all of us policy platform team came to Benin to meet with him and Obaseki.
I discussed with Obaseki privately prior to the meeting and emphasized the importance of accountability, honesty and transparency for the new administration. Obaseki recoiled with horror at such foreign concepts.
That was the end of any private interaction I had with him. My plan called for the rehabilitation and renovation of the existing Central Hospital. At the meeting, I found Obaseki and Oshiomole hell bent on building a new Central hospital.
This was in 2008. Of course because this provided the greater avenue for them to loot the funds. Oshiomhole and Obaseki had set their minds on [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IuwwjqNnHU
constructing a brand new Central Hospital which would be a bigger and easier project to embezzle funds from.
When I left the two of them and came back to the USA, I told everyone that both of them were frauds. And I really hoped for the sake of our Edo State citizens, that I would be proved wrong.
Unfortunately, time would prove that the whole project of the new ultramodern 5 star Edo State Specialist hospital was nothing but a fraudulent and criminal enterprise.
Several months after take-off of the project dubbed “five star hospital,” its west wing under construction collapsed, trapping and injuring six of the workers and killing the 65 yr old site engineer- an Italian.
Heavy lift equipment was rushed to the site and the search and rescue took several hours. By the time they got to the site engineer, he was already dead. Engineers at the site said the concrete was so weak that you could break it with your fingers.
The iron rods used for the 4-storey building was not fit for use in a chicken coop. In fact they said the question was not if the building was going to collapse but when.
The Central Hospital (also called Specialist Hospital) project was a fraudulent enterprise from day of conception. It was a monumental fraud that will live in infamy as one of the biggest frauds ever committed in Nigeria.
Billions of naira were borrowed and shared leaving a little left for the contractor to implement. At the end of the day, the only result was to mortgage the future of our Edo children for a zero star hospital that needs to be demolished.
[3]. https://elombah.com/benin-ultra-modern-hospital-oshiomhole-and-golda-osikhenas-zenith-of-financial-crimes-and-deceit-oshiomhole-speaks-out/ Obaseki and Oshiomhole never intended to provide the tertiary hospital services needed by the citizens of Edo State.Oshiomhole, a man who installed his godson Obaseki to succeed him as governor for the sole reason to protect himself from investigation and imprisonment for the gargantuan theft he perpetuated on Edo State.
A man who deprived his entire state of healthcare and who used Edo state funds to build a university in his village Iyamho and transferred the university to his private company. As he continues to run all over the political landscape, seeking relevance, he should be reminded of Proverb 28:1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth; But the righteous are bold as a lion.
Conclusion
With the worthless Benin Storm water project that drains to nowhere and the worthless Ultra-modern 5 star hospital project that has never admitted a single patient, utilizing borrowed money, Obaseki and Oshiomhole have presided over the largest scale of fraudulent projects, and the largest transfer of wealth from State treasury to the political class in Nigerian history.
Lucky Igbenedion, the former governor of Edo State, set the previous record for unparalleled fraud and corruption and depleted the Edo State treasury with nothing to show for it.
But Oshiomhole and Obaseki are vying for his record! Let me explain. Igbenedion like a common thief did nothing and just stole existing money in the state treasury. Obaseki and Oshiomhole were more sophisticated in their theft.
They made a pretense of tarring a few roads, while borrowing billions of naira to add to the state debt and then stealing both existing and borrowed money. Compared to these two, Lucky Igbenedion is a Franciscan friar and the notorious 18th century pirate Blackbeard and altar boy. Edo people shine your eyes!!! You deserve the leaders that you tolerate.
Obaseki, yes you…return the N2.1 billion that you pocketed as a commission for your completely worthless projects of the Edo State Storm water drain that drains to nowhere, and the ultramodern but useless 5 star Central hospital.
Also the security in Edo state is much worse than when you took over as governor. So return the N600 million you have been collecting every month for the last 4 ½ years as security vote and using as your personal piggy bank. That comes to an additional N32.5 billion.
And finally you and your partners in crime Oshiomhole, Ogie and Agba should return the N41 billion that you all shared for your two worthless projects, back to the State treasury.
What a country!! Where mind boggling fraud is the culture, corruption is free for all, nobody is accountable for anything and the citizens are deprived of the development that they sorely lack. I weep for you Edo State and I weep for you Nigeria!!
[1] https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://www.alltimepost.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/GOVT-SPECIAL-ANNOUNCEMENT2-scaled.jpg&imgrefurl=https://www.alltimepost.com/2020/01/heads-may-roll-in-edo-as-obaseki-orders-probe-of-benin-specialist-hospital-contracts/&tbnid=Ae1rcUuNC8Ur1M&vet=1&docid=ARKD0hg-Q7PYTM&w=1812&h=2560&hl=en&source=sh/x/im
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IuwwjqNnHU [3] https://elombah.com/benin-ultra-modern-hospital-oshiomhole-and-golda-osikhenas-zenith-of-financial-crimes-and-deceit-oshiomhole-speaks-out/Sota Omoigui, MD is Co-author, Nigerian National Anthem. He can be reached at Email: Medicinechief@aol.com
