Tony Okocha, the former leader of the dissolved APC caretaker committee in Rivers State, has stated that when people raised concerns about the relationship between the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of Edo State, Promise Anugbum Onuoha, and former Governor Nyesom Wike, he couldn’t help but laugh.
In a live coverage by Symfoni TV from 1:30, Okocha said he laughed because he knows Onuoha very well from their previous work together and is confident in his integrity. He said even though Onuoha and Wike are cousins, Onuoha is highly independent and not someone who can be easily influenced. He described Onuoha as a strong-willed person who takes his job seriously. To back this up, Okocha pointed out that the recent governorship election in Edo State had a very close result, with a difference of less than 50,000 votes between the winner and the runner-up. This, he argued, showed that the election was free of manipulation, especially when compared to past elections where the difference was much larger
In Okocha’s words: “When there was argument about Wike’s cousin being Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Edo I was busy laughing. The reason why I was laughing is that I know the man very well. We belonged to two organizations where he was chairman and I was secretary, so I know him like I know my name. They are first cousins but I can assure that they REC of Edo Associate Professor Promise Onuoha is not a man anybody can push. The man is so self-opinionated especially when it has to do with delivering on his job. I am sure Nigerian would have seen that the election in Edo was very narrow. The difference was less than 50 thousand votes. It is not to be compared to the time when difference of election results between the winner and the first runner up was over 200 thousand, other words there would have been some doctoring here and there”….Sêe _ Morê