KINGSLEY CHINDA’S POLITICS OF CONVICTION

Chinda, Rivers State APC governorship candidate,  is determined to pursue peace if

 elected, writes IKE OKONTA

Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, is a big, sprawling city. Making my way to Honourable Kingsley Chinda’s home in this city on a Thursday evening last September, I lost my way twice. But on each occasion, local people came to my rescue. One lanky youth told me: “You’re going to see OK?’’ (Honourable Chinda is popularly known all through the city by his initials) “No problem at all, everybody in this city knows OK’s house’’. And sure enough he mounted his commercial motorcycle and guided my car through the mazes and streets of the city until we got to Kingsley Chinda’s house.

The ultimate test of a politician is how well he or she is accepted by the ordinary people he represents. And Kingsley Chinda passes that test by a mile. From a humble beginning as a lawyer with his chambers in D-Line, a popular working-class district of Port Harcourt in the early 1990s, to a member of the House of Representatives representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency and then on to emerging the Minority Leader of the House on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, Kingsley Chinda has pursued a politics of the public interest, a politics that foregrounds the ordinary people as the cornerstone of socio-economic life in Rivers State, the wider Niger Delta and in Nigeria as a whole.

The interesting thing about Kingsley Chinda is that he started his political activism on the centre-left, a ‘’comrade’’ as Nigerians like to put it. His politics was radical, but if you expected to see a heavily-bearded, fire-eating Marxist in tattered clothes waving “The Communist Manifesto’’ in your face at the slightest opportunity, you would be sorely disappointed. His politics is always measured, moderate, and ever ready to listen to the point of view of his political opponents – capitalists, social democrats and all. Further, Chinda has always been a person of faith, and his Christian beliefs, nurtured over the decades, has served as a moderating influence on his politics and policy stance.

Another endearing quality of Kingsley Chinda is his humility. I remember when the political crisis in Rivers State was at its apogee in 2024. Governor Sim Fubara had been suspended and governance had virtually ground to a halt in the state. Kingsley Chinda was then Minority Leader of the House of Representatives and he had his hands full guiding members of his political coalition as the House debated one contentious bill after the other. I knew that Chinda was extremely busy. But I was worried about the political storm going on in his beloved state and wanted to know what he was doing about it. So I telephoned him.

Chinda was extremely courteous. He insisted I come to his office to discuss the matter. When I arrived he told his staff not to disturb him for the next one hour and he took me on a journey about the political crisis in his state and how he and his senior colleague and strongman of Rivers State politics, Nyesom Wike had done their best to ensure that Sim Fubara govern in the interest of Rivers State people and not allow himself to be distracted by petty ethnic and personal considerations. Not once did he raise his voice that afternoon in his Abuja office. Not once did he condemn Governor Fubara in a bitter voice even though all discerning observers of Rivers State politics knew that he Chinda was former governor Wike’s close ally and adviser. Chinda insisted that what was uppermost on his mind during that imbroglio was the welfare of the ordinary people of Rivers State.

It is this concern for the welfare of the ordinary people of Rivers State that impelled him to throw his hat into the ring to contest for the office of governor of the state on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC). When the mass media reported that Kingsley Chinda had emerged as the party’s candidate I was curious. I wanted to find out what his policies and programmes would be if he was elected governor. I sent him a message that I would like to interview him for a feature article in THISDAY on Sunday. But he was extremely busy, flying from Abuja to Port Harcourt and back, campaigning. Eventually, our mutual friend, Abdul Mahmud, former NANS president and one of Nigeria’s finest public intellectuals today, intervened and secured an interview date with Chinda for me. I flew to Port Harcourt and on arrival, called Honourable Chinda. He was extremely busy as usual – this was the height of the campaign season – but he cleared his diary at once and told me to come to his residence on the evening of the following day for the interview.

Uppermost in his menu of programmes and policies is his desire to build on the impressive achievements of Nyesome Wike when the latter was governor of Rivers State. Most observers of the state agree that Wike’s tenure was transformative – he powered industrialisation, infrastructure projects and manpower development. There is no area of Rivers State public life that Governor Nyesom Wike did not impact positively. Said Chinda to me: “His Excellency Nyesom Wike’s record speaks for itself. I will build on that. I will focus on the economy of the state. I will expand Internally-Generated Revenue. I will pursue industrialisation – remember that we used to have industrial estates in this city. I will revive them. I will create employment and pursue investor-friendly policies.’’

Honourable Chinda is anxious to solve the perennial problem of inadequate electricity supply in Rivers State. He reminded me that former governor Dr Peter Odili had pursued the establishment of an independent power project during his tenure. ‘’I will look into that with new eyes,’’ Chinda told me. ‘’I am anxious to pursue industrialisation of the state, and you need electricity to make that happen. So electricity will be a priority for my administration if am elected.’’ Another priority for Chinda is technical education. In fact, he said it would be one of his core programmes. “His Excellency Nyesom Wike built schools, expanded some, equipped them. I will build on that, focusing on technical education for our students. The 21st century is the century of rapid technological transformation. I am determined to make sure that our children are not left behind.’’

A note of sadness crept into Kingsley Chinda’s voice as he surveyed Rivers State politics in the past four years. “There were missed opportunities,’’ he said. ‘’Time was squandered on frivolities, and the ordinary people of Rivers State were the victims. Without peace you cannot make progress, so peace in Rivers State is uppermost on my mind. It is peace that gives birth to development, and I am determined to pursue peace.’’

Kingsley Chinda is a politician with the common touch, and he demonstrated this when I was in his house for this interview that Thursday evening. I was two hours late for the interview and he had given up on my turning up that night and was eating boiled corn and pears with friends when I walked in. Some Nigerian politicians love to step out of their motorcade and make a show of buying roasted corn from roadside vendors while the television cameras are rolling. But not Kingsley Chinda. Eating boiled corn, whether journalists are present or not is what he does because he is disarmingly simple. He asked me to join him and his friends in the corn. I politely declined.  Chinda chuckled and said, ‘’So Ike, you don’t like us common people?’’

Dr Okonta was until recently Leverhulme Career Fellow in the Department of Politics, University Of Oxford. He now runs a public policy think tank in Abuja.