ON Wednesday, September 28th 2016, most indigenes of Edo state from home and abroad and from all works of life are expected to have arrived the state to exercise their civic rights. We are all expected to vote into office a new governor who will preside over the affairs of state, for another four years.

THERE must be some extraordinary milestones in the journey of a people at which point their leaders must periodically pause for deeper reflections with simultaneous exhibition of a modicum of endearing dignity.

One of the newspapers published an opinion article by a certain Robert Obioha, titled “Peterside and APC’s Fantasy” on September 2, 2016. Reading this article, one can easily adduce his motivation for penning, otherwise, how does one explain the blatant disregard for issues raised by Hon. Dakuku Peterside, flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 2015 Rivers State gubernatorial elections? Or a poignant lack of discourse in the article about critical issues bordering on the economy and security of Rivers State?

DURING the tenure of one of our past presidents, I was given a publication to distil some of its content for use in another publication. The publication, a “Mid-term Report” of the president’s administration, featured inputs from various ministries, departments and agencies. It was meant to project the goals and achievements of the government of the day. And, not surprisingly, its foreword was signed by the then incumbent president, an indication that his government endorsed it at the highest level.

How we respond to an issue is in many cases more important than the issue itself. And one such issue is the current economic travails Nigeria is currently grappling with.