Elder Statesman, Chief Philip Asiodu, has called on Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State to devote more attention to nation building and national integration as required of one of the country’s leaders.
Asiodu, a former Super Permanent Secretary and former Chief Economic Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, gave the charge in a congratulatory letter to the Governor on his reelection.
According to him: “Most people agree that you deserve the landslide majority with which you won the elections as they are all witnesses to the clearly visible transformation in Benin City and other parts of Edo State. They have also seen the energy and dynamism with which you have served the state as Governor. It is also reassuring from the national point of view and the future of democratic elections in our country that you won three quarters of the votes cast in an open, transparent, and orderly election.
“We join the great majority of Nigerians in sending you the best wishes for greater successes in moving Edo State forward and creating an example of good governance.
“As one of the leaders of Nigeria, I hope you will also devote great attention now in helping to bring about a revolutionary change in the nation’s political processes, and in the motivation and objectives of those who seek political leadership and office, away from self-seeking, to helping to develop the country. I would appeal to you to help initiate a renewed drive for nation building and national integration which seems to have ended with the conclusion of the civil war.
“However, I always recall the words of the great Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore who wrote: “We cannot afford to forget that public order, personal security, economic and social progress are not the natural order of things, that they depend on ceaseless effort and attention from an honest, effective government that the people must elect.”