About that N2.5B UBTH support and PDP’s cocktail of amnesia and hypocrisy

By Bugie Okhuemoi

The recent remarks by a faction of the Edo State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) over Governor Monday Okpebholo’s ₦2.5 billion intervention in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) made me chuckle. It was a poor and desperate attempt to distract Edo people from their own shameful legacy of neglect, excuses, and squandered opportunities.

Before we jog the memory of the Edo PDP, let’s put some things in proper perspective.

The truth is simple: UBTH, though a federal institution, serves Edo people more than anyone else. Over 90% of its patients are indigenes of the state. Supporting UBTH is not about politics or headlines; it is about saving Edo lives, ensuring that families can access quality healthcare here at home, and showing that leadership means responsibility without excuses.

This is the stark difference between Okpebholo and the PDP. For eight years, the PDP government in Edo turned excuses into state policy. Federal roads across the state collapsed, communities were cut off, lives were lost, and businesses suffocated. Yet, their readily comfortable answer was always: “It is not our responsibility.” Today, those same roads are being rehabilitated because Governor Okpebholo understands that there are no “federal people” in Edo, only Edo people who deserve safe passage and dignity

The same principle guides his intervention in UBTH. Should the government turn a blind eye to a facility that serves the majority of its citizens because it is not owned by the state? The PDP may prefer to watch Edo indigenes suffer in dilapidated hospitals just to score political points, but Governor Okpebholo is committed to fixing every system that affects the lives of Edo citizens, whether state-owned or federally owned.

Ironically, in their press release, the PDP admitted that the General Hospital in Abudu is “no more than a mere patent medicine store.” That is their legacy after 8 wasteful years in government, not Governor Okpebholo’s. They also claimed that the Stella Obasanjo Hospital “rebuilt with state funds” remains under lock and key. What they hide from Edo people is that the so-called “rebuilt hospital” was nothing more than an incomplete project hurriedly commissioned to deceive the public. Investigations have since revealed that the building had major defects, with uncompleted wards, unprocured equipment, and even construction errors, making it unfit for use. Over ₦1 billion was squandered on consultancy fees alone for what was already an existing hospital. This is a shameful monument to corruption that this government is committed to revisiting and fixing properly. Governor Okpebholo has already directed his health team and contractors to correct these errors and complete the facility for real use.

In addition, the Governor is committed to ensuring that doctors and healthcare workers in Edo State enjoy the best working conditions. Only a government that values its citizens and workforce can prioritize both infrastructure and the human capital that sustains the health system.

PDP’s hypocrisy on effective resource management is staggering. These are the same people who folded up Edo Line, bought second-hand Sienna buses as a “security strategy,” abandoned bursary payments for students, failed to support small businesses, and left Ambrose Alli University (AAU) to rot with a meagre monthly subvention of ₦41 million. Meanwhile, their “consultants” were pocketing over ₦50 million monthly.

Governor Okpebholo has since increased AAU’s subvention to ₦500 million, constituted a proper governing council, ensured the induction of hundreds of graduate medical students after spending 10 years in medical school due to state-engineered crisis and inefficiency, and has commenced work on a 500-room student hostel. That is the difference between leadership with vision and a government that specialized in excuses and looting.

The PDP is rattled because Edo people are beginning to see the truth. They now realize how much funding was available to the previous government under the Tinubu administration, yet wasted by corporate bandits masquerading as consultants. That is why the PDP is ashamed of itself and service due to Okpebholo’s bold steps which exposes their years of waste.

Governor Okpebholo’s ₦2.5 billion support to UBTH is not charity. It is a calculated investment in the health and lives of Edo people. It does not take away from the government’s full commitment to reviving state-owned hospitals, but rather complements it. It is leadership that says: Edo people come first, politics comes last.

The difference is clear. While PDP built a culture of excuses, Governor Okpebholo is building a legacy of collaboration, responsibility, and people-first governance. Edo people deserve nothing less.

Bugie Okhuemoi is
Special Adviser,Media, and Publicty, to the Edo State Governor