Governor Adams Oshiomhome of Edo State has been conferred with the Icon of Excellence Award and Grand Patron of the Nigerian Medical Students Association.
Presenting the award in Government House yesterday, the president of the Association, Maina Basiru, said the Governor was one person the Association has come to recognize for his excellent performance.
According to him “during our last National Executive Meeting, names were mentioned, individuals were mentioned that should be the Icon of the year, your name was one of those mentioned. “We set up a fact finding committee of the Nigeria Medical Students Association to go round and check what those Governors and individuals have to offer.
And after three months they came up with a result which showed that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is the winner of the Nigerian Medical Students Association Icon of the year”.
He disclosed that this is the first time that the association is giving awards to politicians, adding that “as students we have continued to regard you as a Comrade and not a politician”.
“You are someone on a rescue mission. Before the coming of Adams Oshiomhole we know the condition of Edo State. But today, Edo State has become a role model, not only to Nigerians but to other African countries.Today, people can come to Edo state and do business”, he noted.
Mr. Basiru said: “We believe Nigeria needs people like you. Our country is on the cross roads. The news about Nigeria is not so cheering. There is a lot of division, a lot of favoritism and this country is more divided than before and we believe that as we approach 2015, men of good will like yourself, the messiah that this country needs should also push yourself forward to rescue this nation.
“I want to say without fear of contradiction that you are one person out of the political class in Nigeria, that you are being described as a detribalized person. Everyone in Nigeria today says you are the leader of this country.
Before now everybody thinks government is about sharing money but today we know that issue of political god fatherism is a thing of the past”.
Responding, Comrade Oshiomhole thanked the Nigerian Medical Students Association for the honour done him as a result of the evaluation of his stewardship.
Oshiomhole said “I am convinced that Nigeria has the potentials. I believe it is time to do those things we did not do in the past to ensure that the potentials become a reality and that we stop agonizing and start organizing and mobilizing our people to stand up and be counted as part of the forces of change in order to build a country that young people like you would be proud of and you will carry the national passport with every sense of pride and responsibility”.
Oshiomhole advised them to refuse to give up on Nigeria, adding “you cannot have another country where you can stay with our visa, where you will not be treated as a tenant or a visitor. The challenges we face are many.Like I have argued somewhere, I believe that our country is still much more than the sum total of all those challenges. What is required is for us to recognize that each of us can make a difference”.
