23/05/2018
Did you lose your race on Monday afternoon? Congratulations!
I’m totally serious.
If you lost, that means you ran. You took a chance and put yourselves out there. It took guts. Too many people are happy to shout from the sidelines, to criticize and critique and point fingers at what’s wrong. By running, you took responsibility. You stopped being a spectator and became an active part of solving a problem.
If you lost, that means you and your friends and supporters took time and energy and money and applied it toward the electoral process. You built a team of people who feel the way you do and turned those feelings into action.
If you lost, it means you stepped up to provide a different option on the ballot. Without challengers, there is no choice for people to make. Without a choice, voting means less and we often feel like there’s no point in going to the polls.
If you lost, that means you thought long and hard about the values that you want to apply to making The National Association of Public Health Students (NAPHS) better. You formulated ideas and found a way to articulate them to others. You learned how to be persuasive and to respectfully converse with those who disagreed with you.
If you lost, it means that you tried, and are now accepting an outcome that you were not hoping for.
Abiding by the will of the majority and having a peaceful transfer of power between opponents are founding principles of our noble Association.
If you lost, you showed our younger generation of NAPHSites in your life that it’s honourable to accept defeat, that worth is not measured purely by the numbers totaled at the end of the election and that losing gracefully is just as important as winning. It’s the effort that counts.
So, seriously if your votes was not enough for you to win yesterday congratulations.
The race was better because you ran it.
Permit me to also use this opportunity to CONGRATULATE all the newly elected executives of NAPHS. Kator David I specially congratulate you on your emergence as the NAPHS 001 University of Calabar Chapter. You made history yesterday by becoming the 8th elected President of this noble Association.
The mantle of leadership from
Zar Daniel Vershima
Emmanuel Ugobo
Gerald Obeten Ibiang
Jonathan Edward
Reagan Agba
Benedict Sunday Essong
Faith Okoi
and now
Kator, David Igbudu
I pray that the grace of leadership fall on you so that you will have the wisdom to steer the course of this noble Association and do more and even surpass your Predecessors
Word of advice
You have emerge as NAPHS President and not President to only your friends but to all NAPHSites. Carry everybody along and you will succeed.
To my dear NAPHSites
I thank you for the continuous support and faith in our Association. Please let this love continue.
I also want to specially thank the electoral committee chairman, Terngu Simon Azo for creating a platform for a free and credible elections and replicating the record set my Comr. Okolie Elvis Anyaehiechukwu in the 2017 polls.
The success of our Association has always been in the credibility of our electoral process.
Posterity will not forgive me if I failed to mention the step- aside President Okoi, Faith Ubi for setting the pace for this transformation.
NAPHS --- Safeguarding Public Health
Essong Benedict
NAPHS Nigeria
