OFFICIAL ACCEPTANCE SPEECH AS PRESENTED BY JOHN BEST UCHE | COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLICITY DIRECTOR, YALI RLC ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, NIGERIA

Dear leaders,

I am super excited to be speaking to this General Assembly today in the form of acceptance to serve you. 

I want to express my profound and most sincere gratitude to this General Assembly of YALI RLC Alumni Association Nigeria for your benevolent show of trust and confidence reposed in me to serve in the capacity of the Director of Communications and Publicity. 

Without mincing words, believe me when I say your votes counted. Yes, it indeed counted.

Special thanks to the Electoral Committee (ECOM) for selflessly delivering on their duty regardless of their tight and almost impossible-to-compromise schedules as professionals in their endeavours yet upholding the tenets of democracy 

Many thanks to the outgone National Executive Council (NEC) under the presidency of Mr Benjamin Aren for their collective effort that has brought the association to the level it has got to within the last 12 months.

I love what Andrew Carnegie said about who a leader is.

“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.”

To put it in context, I am neither here to serve solo nor to get all the glory for anything as I am a believer of teamwork. As a member of the alumni association, you are a team player as I am in this case. We are first, members of this association before any office and what should matter is the impact we are committed to making in our communities through our various skill sets and professional inclinations.

In the spirit of oneness and unity of purpose with the President, Mr Hammed Abiodun (Atoba) and all inaugurated NEC members, I shall make sure to deliver my single promise of ‘Increasing Positive Public Perception of YALI RLC Alumni Association Nigeria through Effective Communication using possible Public Relations tools’. 

To further buttress the above point, as I offer myself to serve this association, I humbly request your unflinching support to me and entire executives under the presidency of Mr Hammed Abiodun Atoba to make our work a lot easier and smoother for the achievement of a greater YALI RLC Alumni Association Nigeria . 

To my fellow elected officers who have been saddled with the responsibility of leading this association of influential young African leaders in the service year 2024, here is a corroboration of what John C. Maxwell said about leadership being influence: 

“When you know you're not leading when no one is following, you will understand when it is said 'Leadership is INFLUENCE' and be more intentional.” ~ John Best UCHE

Leading itself is daunting. You must know for a fact that leading leaders is more daunting because the people you are about to lead are leaders in their various fields and world with lots of feathers attached, industry experts, and professionals with similar or more leadership training as you. You need every possible form of personal and interpersonal intelligence and most importantly, a high level of emotional intelligence.

To all contestants who may not have emerged as winners in the poll, I salute you especially, first, for the courage and bold steps taken to lead the association. It shows you passed the first rule of leadership (not a rule by anyone else) which is to believe in yourself that you are capable of leading. Then, for your professional and empathetic conduct before, during and after the elections and the spirit of sportsmanship you have exemplified even upon the declaration of election results and official inauguration.

The election result declaration by the ECOM has served its purpose of formality. Now, the reality is that the win is a collective one. And this can only be seen as manifest in our shared interest in ensuring the growth and development of the association. Bring those brilliant ideas which you shared in your manifesto, to the table. Make it a duty to support the elected executives and posterity will not forget you in a hurry. 

Many thanks to the Board of Trustees (BoT) of this association for the advisory role in the association. 

Again, thank you all for your unreserved show of trust in me.

Together, let us do YALI RLC Alumni Association Nigeria GREATNESS again. 

John Best UCHE

Communications & Publicity, Director

YALI RLC Alumni Association Nigeria