A former Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in four states in NigeriaOyo, Ekiti, Taraba and Akwa IbomElder Chidi Frank Wihioka, hails from Elele, Ikwerre Local Government Area, Rivers State and currently represents Ikwerre/Emohua Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. In this interview with our Port Harcourt Bureau Chief, BISI OLANIYI, the former lecturer says he never experienced sexual harassment or sorting in his almost 27 years of teaching. He also proffers solutions to the Niger Delta militancy and Boko Haram insurgency, having done his national youth service in the old Borno State. Excerpts:Let us start from the beginning. How was life as a growing up child'I started life from State School 3 Primary School, Elele in Ikwerre Local Government Area, Rivers State, where I had my first school leaving certificate in 1973 and I came out with distinction. In the same year, I got admission into County Grammar School, Ikwerre/Etche, where I finished in 1978. I came out with Grade 2. From there, I proceeded to the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt, formerly Rivers State College of Arts and Science, where I did Higher National Diploma (HND) in Animal Science. I then proceeded to the University of Calabar (UNICAL) in Cross River State on a part-time basis before I did my Post-Graduate Diploma (PGD) and Masters in Education.After HND, I did the national youth service in 1984 in the old Borno State. When I returned to Rivers State after the youth service, I first taught at Girls Secondary School, Iba, Emohua LGA, before I got another employment opportunity to be a lecturer at the Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Port Harcourt, then the School of Basic Studies, where I taught for almost 27 years before I veered into politics.When my people felt that it was very important for me to run for election, instead of putting in resignation letter, I put in retirement letter in 2014 and retired from the Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Port Harcourt, which was later upgraded to Port Harcourt Polytechnic by Governor Nyesom Wike and recently renamed Elechi Amadi Polytechnic in honour of the late literacy icon, who hailed from Aluu in Ikwerre LGA of the state, to vie as a member of the House of Representatives representing Ikwerre/Emohua Federal Constituency of Rivers State.I was appointed as Ikwerre Local Government Caretaker Chairman of the National Republican Convention (NRC) in 1992 as a public officer and we managed NRC until we conducted election and had NRC officers and we left. I also got appointment as a member of the Rivers State Land Use and Allocation Committee. Even when the military took over, we were retained, handling everything relating to Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) and allocation of government-owned lands, until 1999 when I was appointed as General Manager of Rison Palm, then wholly owned by the Rivers State Government before investors were later invited.You functioned as a Resident Electoral Commissioner at some pointYes, I later got appointment at the federal level as a Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), first in Oyo State. I was then moved to Taraba State. I conducted the 2003 general election in Taraba State. Thereafter, I was posted to Akwa Ibom State and then Ekiti, all as REC. It was in Ekiti State that I completed my first tenure of five years as REC and I left. I then veered into politics.Shortly after a former Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, an indigene of Ubima in Ikwerre LGA, now Transportation Minister, became governor on October 26, 2007, after the Supreme Courts landmark judgment of the previous day, I was appointed the Chairman of Rivers State Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Agency, a position I occupied until 2014. I was still a lecturer at the Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Port Harcourt, but I took a leave of absence.How easy was your election into the House of Reps'My election into the House of Representatives was the longest election in the history of Nigeria. From 2014 when I retired from the Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Port Harcourt, the election of 2015 continued till 2016 when we had a rerun on December 10 and I was declared winner by INEC on December 12, 2016. By the grace of God Almighty, I was elected by my people to represent Ikwerre/Emohua Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I thank God that I have the experience and what it takes to represent my federal constituency.You said you served in old Borno State in 1984. How will you compare Borno State then and now, considering the Boko Haram insurgency'Then, Borno State was a very nice place. I served in Marugaba, but I had a house in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State. When I served in Borno State, even at 2 am, you could walk on any road and nobody would harass you. You would even see people sleeping in front of their houses. There was no threat to life whatsoever.As a parent, how did you feel when you heard that Boko Haram insurgents had kidnapped close to 300 girls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State where you served'I felt very bad. Imagine how you feel if your daughter is somewhere you do not know. You will neither be able to eat nor sleep. No parent can comfortably say he/she will eat, drink or move around with such an unpleasant experience. There was a day I watched a carol in Abuja after the kidnap of the Chibok girls, and one lady from Chibok was talking. I broke down. I looked at her and I looked at my children. I asked myself a question: If this had happened to your children who are with you here, how will you feel'I thank God that by His grace, the Federal Government and the military are making progress now to free the remaining Chibok girls who are still in captivity while Sambisa Forest has been cleared of Boko Haram insurgents. The release of the Chibok girls will bring joy to their parents and other Nigerians.You are from the Niger Delta. Militants in the region are doubting the sincerity of the Federal Government with regard to transforming the oil-rich region and empowering the marginalised people. How would you advise President Muhammadu Buhari on this'Militancy in the Niger Delta has changed from genuine agitation to youths now being used for political gains. If you go to some of the communities in the Niger Delta where they are bombing pipelines and other facilities of oil companies, you will find that the real people in the villages are not the ones benefiting from the agitations. Ogoniland in Rivers State is very rich in crude oil and gas, with many oil wells. Ogoni people had problems with oil companies, especially the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), which was sent packing from Ogoniland in 1993 and is yet to return to the four LGAs of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme. But Ogoni people did not damage pipelines.If you look at reports from security agencies, you will find that some of the pipes the oil companies are claiming were being damaged by militants are pipes that have stayed beyond their lifespan. Any slight touch on the pipes, they will tear apart. So, the oil companies should change their pipes.The people benefiting from amnesty scholarships in the Niger Delta are not the militants. Some of the people at the helm of affairs of the amnesty programme put the names of their brothers and sisters, who are being trained overseas as pilots and engineers. Most of the benefiting youths never took part in militancy. If you want to eliminate militancy in the Niger Delta, we must ensure manpower development, especially training the ex-militants as middle-level manpower. They can be properly trained as welders and other trades. After their training, they can be employed by the companies or they will become contractors to the companies, in managing their pipelines.The people defending the Niger Delta militants today are the people that are making the gains. They are the people negotiating with militants for cash. But there are genuine people who are negotiating on behalf of the Federal Government. Cant you see some Niger Delta leaders who are defending the bad boys, just because they are benefiting from the negotiations' Niger Delta militancy should not be a source of revenue for some leaders.The Federal Government should do away with Niger Deltas unpatriotic leaders/channels and identify the real community leaders for the Federal Government and oil companies to ensure real development of the Niger Delta communities. In some communities in the Niger Delta, you will find camps of multinational oil giants with good water, constant electricity and good roads leading to the camps and everything functioning very well, but the adjoining communities where the oil firms are drilling crude oil are without social amenities.If you wake up in the night in the host communities of oil companies in the Niger Delta, you will see light in the camps of the oil firms. You will be hearing loud music and the happy people will be dancing while the people of the communities who own the crude oil are in total darkness. It would get to a point where the neglected people of the host communities in the Niger Delta would want to revolt. As the oil companies are developing their camps, they should also be developing their host communities.You were a REC of INEC in Oyo, Taraba, Akwa Ibom and Ekiti states in the days of do-or-die politics. What did you experience'As a REC of INEC, I saw the good, the bad and the ugly. What was important to me, as at then, was my name and my determination to do something right. While in Oyo State as REC of INEC in 2002, we had the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the then Alliance for Democracy (AD). The then governor, Alhaji Lam Adesina, was of AD. There was a day the then strongman of Ibadan politics, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, wrote me a letter with a red biro. I read it and I remembered when I was in the university and we were using red biro to write letters to threaten somebody. I saw Alhaji Adedibus letter as one of those experiences in life. I read the letter and I dropped it inside my drawer, without allowing the content to bother me.What was the content of the letter'It was a private letter. He wrote to me and talked as a politician.Did he threaten to harm you for not supporting his preferred candidates or his political party'No comment.How did you cope with pressure from influential politicians and top government officials as REC of INEC in four states of Nigeria'While still in Oyo State as REC of INEC, another thing happened besides the letter from Alhaji Adedibu. The then governor, Alhaji Lam Adesina, called me and said he got a report that I was giving registration forms to PDP members. I just laughed. He drove to my office in Ibadan with the then Chairman of Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC), many aides and supporters. They talked for a very long time. When they finished, I said His Excellency, this your SIEC chairman will put you in problems. He asked why and I told him that the SIEC chairman brought photocopied OMR forms being used to capture people directly, but I insisted I would never allow photocopied documents to be used since INEC only deals with original documents.I told Alhaji Adesina how I advised the SIEC chairman against doing things that were not in line with INECs rules and regulations, but he (SIEC chairman) ended up telling the then governor lies, which made him (Alhaji Adesina) to leave his official duties to come to INEC office. The then governor asked the SIEC chairman if what I said was true and he said yes. Alhaji Adesina was so disappointed, got tired, told me sorry and they left.I conducted elections in Taraba State, a quiet place. There was no trouble or violence. After the announcement of the results of the elections, I walked a distance of half a kilometre from the hotel where I lodged to go and eat without any security, and nobody abused, harassed or attacked me. In Akwa Ibom State, I conducted state House of Assembly by-election. In Ekiti State too, I conducted House of Representatives by-election. By Gods grace, I am honest and straightforward, and I place emphasis on integrity and honour.How did you meet your wife'We met in school, Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt. I entered first in 1979, while Comfort (his wife) was admitted with supplementary list. We did some courses that had to do with Mathematics, Survey and Physics, but she was not good in Mathematics. We were in the same Faculty of Agriculture. She was in Agric Economics Department, while I was in Animal Science Department. I was then teaching her Mathematics, Survey and Physics.How did you propose to her'Both of us proposed to each other while teaching.How has it been since you got married'We got married in 1990. Since then, it has been very nice, sweet and rewarding, to the glory of God Almighty.Will you like any of your children to go into politics'I will not stop my children from anything they want to do. That is one policy we have in our family. We do not dictate. The only thing we can do for our children is to give them sound education. Any other thing they want to do, as far as it is not criminal, they are free.You were a lecturer for almost 27 years. Did you experience sexual harassment or sorting with sex, money or gift'No. I did not experience sexual harassment. While teaching, I was also holding political offices and I was always in a hurry to finish my lectures, mark the scripts and go out. In those days, there was nothing like sorting. It is now that I am hearing about sorting and I am surprised. In those days, no lecturer had time for nonsense. We were very busy, concentrating on how to teach and we had a very good environment. We had a staff canteen where lecturers could eat or drink after lectures. The canteen was exclusively for lecturers.How did you come about the title of Elder'They used to call me Radical Chidex, because if you did things that were not okay, we would fight. One day, one of my friends, Kwashi, a Ghanaian and now a lawyer in Port Harcourt, came and called me Sir Elder Baba Chidex. He later turned it to Elder Chidex. From that day, people started calling me Elder Chidex and later shortened it to Elder. If you went out and said you were looking for Chidi Frank Wihioka, they would tell you they did not know the person. But immediately you mentioned Elder Chidi Frank Wihioka, they would tell you they knew him.Your kinsman from the same Elele, Emma Okah, a lawyer and current Rivers State Commissioner for Housing, who is of the PDP, alleged after INEC declared you winner of the December 10 legislative rerun, that you wanted to kill him and that the election was rigged for you by INEC, police and the military as directed by the Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi. How will you react to the allegations'All the allegations levelled against me by Emma Okah and other members of the PDP are not true. Emma Okahs mother worships in the same church with me. His mother cannot come to Anglican Churchs altar to say I threatened to kill her son. Even Emma Okah, when he leaves office as Nyesom Wikes commissioner, he will deny most of the things he has said. I made Emma Okah, by Gods grace.How'When I was REC of INEC in Oyo State, Miss Tosin Odukoya, now Mrs. Tosin Dokpesi, a journalist with Africa Independent Television (AIT), then in Lagos, but now the Managing Director of AIT, Abuja, came to Ibadan from Lagos to interview me. When AIT aired the interview, Emma Okah saw it and he did not know that I was a REC of INEC. He then called somebody to give him my number and he called to congratulate me, saying that the interview was nice.Emma asked of my location and I told him I was in Ibadan. He asked if he could come and I said yes. Emma came, and that was how he started visiting me from Lagos and later staying with me in my house in Ibadan for many weeks. All through my stay in Ibadan, any time I was coming to Port Harcourt, I always paid Emmas flight ticket. He is my relative. We are from the same village. I do not know what he was doing in Lagos then.Besides that, by Gods grace, I made Emma Okah to be close to the then Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili. I took Emma to Dr. Odili, describing him as a good man, who could write very well. As a lawyer, Emma was then writing articles in favour of Dr. Odili in The Guardian newspaper. When I took Emma to Dr. Odili, he told the then governor that I was the person helping him to survive. I then spoke with the current Minister of Transportation (Amaechi), who was then the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, who facilitated the appointment of Emma as Chief Press Secretary to the then Governor Odili. When Emma started having problems in the village, I told him to be careful. The village that made you is the village that will destroy you.I won the December 10, 2016 rerun. INEC announced me as winner of the election on December 12. On December 13, I returned home and the whole Elele gathered to receive me. We moved round the big community and my people were singing all over. They took me round the whole Elele and it took me more than three hours to get back home. The next day (December 14), I travelled to Abuja and I was at the House of Representatives on Thursday (December 15) with other winners of the elections for our inauguration by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.Emma is my small brother. When I was in Class Five in County Grammar School, Ikwerre/Etche, Emma was in Class Two. Emma and other students from Elele were feeding in my corner. I was the Games Prefect. I loved football and I played football very well. All of them from Elele were then coming to my corner to eat, because while I was going to school, I would go with a lot of items and money, by Gods grace.Is it true that INEC, police, military personnel and the Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, rigged the December 10 rerun and hijacked electoral materials for you and other candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC)' Are you not worried about the decision of PDPs candidates to challenge your victories at the election petitions tribunal'People who kill with knives will never allow anybody with knife to pass their back. PDP members and leaders are involved in rigging every day of their lives. Whenever other people win, they will say it is rigging. They declared PDP candidate the winner of senatorial election in Emohua LGA without results, but they did not call it rigging, I won the December 10 legislative rerun election for Ikwerre/Emohua federal constituency outright, in spite of all that PDP members did. You also heard Nyesom Wike on the first leaked audio tape through Sahara Reporters, when he was allegedly calling Ikwerre LGAs Electoral Officer (EO).You can have an E.O. with an assurance that he would do everything for you. The PDP members and leaders forgot that you can take a horse to the river, but you cannot force it to drink water. That was what happened to them. PDP members tried rigging in Ikwerre LGA, but it did not work. INEC, police, military and Rt. Hon. Amaechi did not rig the elections for me and other candidates of the APC. Let PDP leaders tell the whole world the truth. No electoral material was hijacked. The result of my election was announced around 3 pm on December 12, not December 10, 2016 when the rerun took place. On December 12, Rt. Hon. Amaechi was already in his office in Abuja or in Lagos doing his official assignments. Will Rt. Hon. Amaechi be in Lagos or Abuja and hijack electoral materials in Rivers State' The hijacking of electoral materials could have only taken place in PDP members imagination or madness. PDP leaders are now crying because they could not buy the military officers and some policemen. They bought some INEC officials. Before, Wike would buy everybody. Any time you hear Wike shouting that some people are rigging, watch him, he is planning to rig, so that if he fails, he will then say he said it. The soldiers came out during the elections, did their security work and are back to their barracks. I do not know any of them. We do not need to destroy institutions because of our personal interest. A time will come when you will need them.In 2014, PDP leaders attempted to plant gun in my house in Elele, when Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was President. They broke the back fence of my house. They did not want me to vie for election, because they knew I would win. They wanted to use the planting of the gun for the police to arrest my security men in the village, who would be forced to write statements and sign that I was the owner of the gun, and they would put me in prison. One of the PDP members, who knew about the plan, called me immediately and said I had assisted him in life and he would not want me to be taken to prison, for what I knew nothing about. I quickly called and informed the then commissioner of police, who promised to get back to me, which he is yet to do.The whole of the village then trooped into my house. My security men are Fulani people with bows and arrows, and they injured one of the gun planters who ran and jumped into a waiting police vehicle, which quickly zoomed off. They could not drop the gun. I have passed through a lot of things. They took me to court and was forcing the then Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Elele to put arson in the charge sheet so that they would not grant me bail. The DPO refused. The then Rivers Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, made sure the then DPO from Taraba State was immediately transferred to Osun State. I went to court and won.During the 2015 general elections, PDP leaders wrote results in the house of one of its chieftains in Elele. We challenged the massive rigging at the tribunal and got victory. On March 19, 2016, during the rerun, PDP members caused the highest level of violence in Rivers State, especially in my area. The shooting was unprecedented. The election was shifted again to December 10 and I was declared by INEC as the winner. I will still win at the tribunal. Let the PDP members tell the world what they did during the December 10 elections in Rivers State.What did they do'I will not expose them for now. I am using my evidence at the tribunal. I am waiting for them at the tribunal and they will be shocked. Let them defend what Nyesom Wike said about Ikwerre LGAs Electoral Officer. The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, set up a panel to investigate the two leaked audio tapes and the massive rigging by PDP members during the December 10 elections, but Wike later hurriedly set up his own judicial commission of inquiry, headed by Justice Chinwendu Nwogu, who was made a judge about two months ago by the Rivers governor. Wike has never set up a panel to investigate the killing of many innocent people and security personnel in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA and Ahaoda Region of Rivers State.On January 6, police authorities dismissed six policemen attached to Governor Nyesom Wike for professional misconduct during the December 10 legislative rerun, but the governor said the policemen are innocent and has called for their immediate reinstatement. What is your reaction'Wike should not cry more than the bereaved. The six dismissed policemen have the right of appeal. Let them appeal. Wike should stop making unnecessary noise to whip up sentiments for public sympathy. The Rivers governor should tell the whole world the truth. I watched the video, how the six policemen were shooting at the Port Harcourt City Local Government Council secretariat, the Rivers East Senatorial Districts collation centre. Who broke the head of the INECs returning officer' What was Wike doing there'Is the governor not the chief security officer of the state who would want to ensure peace and prevent a breakdown of law and order'Why didnt Wike go to Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA, where DSP Mohammed Alkali of Mobile Police Unit 48 and his orderly, Sgt. Urukwu Nwachukwu, were beheaded on December 10, 2016 while on election duty, to stand there as the chief security officer of the state'The post Adedibu once wrote me a letter in RED ink -Ex-Oyo Resident Electoral Commissioner appeared first on The Nation Nigeria.]]>
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