Comrade Victor Ojei, better known as Wong Box Nigeria, recently spoke to Irodili, a Pan African Journalist and Poet about his decision to resign in April 2025 as Senior Special Adviser on Civil Society and NGOs to the current Delta State Governor. He made it clear: no position, no matter how powerful, is worth putting the lives of the people at risk.
In the conversation, Wong Box opened up about Delta State’s security challenges, government failures, and misplaced priorities. He was also candid about politics, criticizing APC and ADC as recycled structures and explaining why he is waiting for “instruction from above” before deciding his next move.
Whether he returns to public office or continues his activism from outside government, Wong Box Nigeria’s commitment to justice, accountability, and a better Delta State remains unwavering. This exclusive conversation with Irodili sheds light on the real challenges of governance and leadership in Nigeria today.
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THE CONVERSATION
Irodili: You resigned in April 2025 as Senior Special Adviser on Civil Society’s and NGOs. Was this a personal choice, or part of a bigger plan?
Wong Box: My resignation was first and foremost an act of conscience, and conscience is never accidental.
I resigned because elements within the Delta State government, who were expected to support my advocacy for the security of lives and property, deliberately worked against it. My efforts were frustrated through blackmail, bureaucratic bottlenecks, and calculated attempts to paint me black even when my record was clean and transparent beside the Governor of Delta State, His Excellency Sheriff Oborevwori who happens to be my father and good friend.
More painful was the lack of genuine commitment to funding and strengthening security agencies in Delta State. When you advocate daily for safety and dignity of the people, yet see government turn a blind eye to insecurity, silence becomes complicity.
The final turning point was when the Governor chose to migrate from the PDP to the APC, a party whose legacy from 2015 till date is deeply associated with rising insecurity across Nigeria. At that point, remaining in office would have meant betraying the very people I was appointed to serve.
So yes, it was my personal decision but it was also a bigger statement: that no position is worth more than the lives of our people.
Irodili: You mentioned waiting for “instruction from above from our earlier conversation.” Who gives this instruction, and how does it guide your next steps?
Wong Box: Politics, like every serious human endeavor, thrives on mentorship, guidance, and collective wisdom. No one has it all.
When I say I am waiting for instruction from above, I refer to respected leaders, elders, and mentors across different sectors who have walked this path with integrity and sacrifice. Their guidance helps ensure that every next step I take aligns with the bigger picture: advocacy for good governance and liberation of our people.
Delta State today is trapped in avoidable hardship, unemployment, lack of industrialization, unstable power supply despite constitutional reforms, and a government more focused on optics and PR than real governance.
Police stations lack vehicles; citizens are forced to hire transport before receiving police attention in cases of insecurity or domestic violence. Yet, we saw 65 Toyota Prado SUVs handed to a few traditional rulers who neither require them nor can maintain them. This act deepened division among traditional institutions and sent a dangerous message: that some communities are “more important” than others.
What kind of governance prioritizes a single-man luxury vehicle over a bridge that can serve an entire community? What kind of logic gives vehicles to palaces with no road access? This is not leadership — it is misplaced priority.
My next steps will be guided by voices that put people first, not power.
Irodili: Are you planning to join ADC, and if so, why?
Wong Box: As how na?
Is ADC not equal to APC in Nigeria today?
Let us ask the honest questions Nigerians are afraid to ask:
Who is El-Rufai?
Who is Rotimi Amaechi?
Who is Atiku Abubakar?
Who is Abubakar Malami?
Who is John Oyegun?
Looks can be deceptive. ADC, in its current form, is nothing more than a refugee camp for displaced and disgruntled APC power brokers. Nigerians deserve new thinking, not recycled ambition.
I am not interested in changing labels while the same architects of our problems remain in charge.
Irodili: Some people think you might join another party, like APC or Labour party. Is that true, and what would influence such a decision?
Wong Box: Both APC and Labour Party have demonstrated deep internal contradictions.
APC’s governance record speaks for itself. As for the Labour Party, Nigerians watched how its leadership betrayed its own presidential candidate and frustrated Governor Alex Otti in Abia State. If a party cannot protect its own mandate, how will it protect the people?
For now, I remain where my conscience places me, outside corrupt structures, but firmly within the struggle. I am waiting for direction from above to take the right path that will allow advocacy to continue effectively.
Because, truly, “service to humanity is the best work of life.”
Irodili: As a human rights activist, how do you stay true to your principles while navigating politics?
Wong Box: I live by a simple truth:
An activist can become a good politician,
but a politician cannot become a good activist.
Activism is rooted in sacrifice, truth, and people’s pain. Politics, when detached from activism, often loses its soul. I stay grounded by remembering who I represent, the voiceless, the oppressed, and the forgotten communities.
Once you lose the people, you have lost everything.
Irodili: With the 2027 elections coming, do you plan to run for office, or work behind the scenes to make change?
I have said it before, and I will say it again: I am waiting for instruction from above.
Whether in public office or outside it, my identity remains constant.
My name is Comrade Victor Ojei, popularly known as Wong Box Nigeria, Lead Activist of the Young Nigerian Rights Organization.
Positions may change. Platforms may change.
But the struggle for justice, accountability, and a better Delta State will not stop.
END…..
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