Embrace selfless leadership, Benin National Congress felicitate Mr. Solomon Edebiri MON on his non-political and transparency project.

We received the invitation to attend the seminar on RESPONSIBILITY, INTEGRITY, TRANSPARENCY and ACCOUNTABILITY (RITA) with a deep sense of gratitude and collaboration, given the sustained track records of the Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) during the 2007 election-Mr. Solomon Edebiri MON. It is this commitment to social change that influenced his Edo people to nominate him for investiture as a fellow of Benin National Merit Award in the year 2007 (Apostle of Good Governance Award category). In our collective aspiration to salvage Nigeria from backward leadership and retrogressive values, it was high time Nigerians embraced purposeful initiatives of this nature and imbibed them for onward enculturation into the younger generations.

Having meticulously examined the aims and objectives of the initiative, the members and board of trustees of the Benin National Congress have officially endorsed the project; and has consequently directed all arsenals and affiliates of the Congress across Edo and Delta States to integrate into the social campaign and be good ambassadors of the project. The Congress also wishes to congratulate the steering committee of the project and the guest speaker at the public presentation- Prof. Julius Ihonvbere OON (a distinguished fellow of Benin National Merit Award) for their commitments to the deepening of the project. We observed that although the project is non-political in nature, it is however very relevant to politics, in that, a vast proportion of Nigeria's politician needs to be baptized or re-oriented with this project before the public can ever entrust them with leadership responsibilities now and in future.

We urge the founder and coordinator of the initiative to guide the project jealously from being high jacked by opportunists who poses as activists but lacking the requisite character of purposeful and participatory democracy. We call on Edo people to emulate public figures of Solomon Edebiri's disposition, because they believe in giving to humanity, without necessarily being public office holders. We have seen public office holders' that squandered cherished societal values at the altar of political expediency; turned themselves into billionaires at the detriment of the poverty stricken electorates, we have course to offer gratitude to God that we still find some 'few good men and women around', like the initiator of this illustrious project. It is a paradox to say the least that some persons who have benefited from “governance of the good old days” in terms of bursary, desirable employment and empowerment climates of previous administration during the 1st and 2nd republics have deliberately transformed themselves into anti-people polemists and agents of misrule.

Finally, we believe that the launching of this project on Thursday 26th January was apt and timely, therefore, all men and women of goodwill should key-into it for the good of our State and Nation.

Dr. David Ekomwenrenren- Director of Publicity and Intelligence