A support group of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the APC Advocacy and Appeasement Group (AAAG) has condemned the acting Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Irrua Specialist hospital, Edo State, Professor Reuben Agbons Eifediyi of being an agent of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and fraudulently seeking to perpetuate himself in office contrary to the promises and expectations of the renewed hope agenda.
The group said Prof. Eifedeyi was using his powers as acting CMD of ISTH to subvert due process for the emergence of a new substantive CMD in a bid to secure the position for himself.
According to the group, Prof. Eifedeyi is being sponsored by the Edo State PDP Government in order to install him to use Hospital for the forthcoming Governorship election and that the Acting CMD is not even the Staff of the Hospital, he was smuggled from somewhere by the PDP in Edo State, taken advantage of the fact that the Minister, the Permaent Secretary, and the Director of Human Resources are new. That as a vigilant affiliate of the APC, it has the obligation to warn the SGF, COS to the President and the President himself not to fall into the trap and blackmail of the PDP Edo State.
In a statesman made available to journalists in Abuja on Thursday, the head of the group, Dr Gambo Halidu, said information reaching them has it that because of the circumstances of the timing of the initiation of the process for the selection of a new CMD, which is the transition from the erswhile government of Muhammadu Buhari to a new government led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Eifedeyi has been working fervently and clandestinely with some officials in the ministry of health and related agencies to subvert the actual result of selection interview.
It said while such behavior was unsurprising from such a personality who is on the radar of the anti-corruption agencies, it will not allow any individual to rubbish the image of Mr President and undermine the new governance regime being put in place in the country as the failure of one is a failure of all.
The statement reads in part, ” The process of appointment of the Chief Medical Director of Irrua specialist teaching hospital commenced alongside other teaching since August 2022 with the mandatory advertisement.
“Thereafter an interview was duly conducted by the ministry of health under the then minister, Dr Ehanire following which 4 names were forwarded as appointable to Mr president. This was also followed by screening of candidates by the DSS and ICPC. To the amazement of staff and candidates of ISTH, while same process was used to appoint other CMDs that of ISTH was cancelled and rescheduled under questionable circumstances by the new minister of health. It is worth noting that government is continuum.
“The recent online publication by current acting chief medical director of the hospital preemptively declaring himself as the substantive chief executive even before declaration of results let alone formal report to appropriate authority by the ministry lends credence to the suspicion of foul play concerning the selection process. We therefore wish to draw the attention of the honourable SGF and the chief of staff to this anomaly and call for an investigation into the cancellation and rescheduling of the process concerning ISTH only as well as the preemptive declaration of self as the substantive chief executive by the current acting CMD (find attached). We also wish to draw attention of your good office to the lack of recourse to the security screening of candidates by appropriate agencies by the ministry of health.
There has been some controversy surrounding the selection of a new CMD for the hospital since the position became vacant early January, 2023, and a panel constituted by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), shortlisted five candidates who sat for an examination covering applied professional knowledge, public service rules and general paper on April 12, 2023. They were all interviewed subsequently.
The bone of contention is the outcome of the selection process as some of the aspirants have alleged some form of manipulation, particularly centered around the chaos that greeted the transition from one administration to another engendered by the February 2023 general elections.