A Former Chairman of the defunct Federal Electoral Commission, FEDECO and Chief Judge in old Bendel State, Justice Victor Ovie-Whiskey is dead.
Aged 88, he died yesterday morning after a protracted illness at his country home, Agbarho, Ughelli North Local Government Area, Delta State.
The lawyer par excellence presided over the 1983 general election which returned the incumbent president Sheu Shagari to power.
Sources close to the family confirmed that he died peacefully in his sleep in the presence of some of his relations.He was the Chief Judge of the defunct Bendel State before former President Shehu Shagari appointed him to head the electoral body in 1980.
Ovie-Whiskey, who was born on April 6, 1924, he attended King’s College, Lagos; Yaba Higher College and later the University College, now University of Ibadan, before going abroad to study law at the Universiy of London.
He was called to the bar in 1952 and was into private practice until 1960 when he became a magistrate in Western Region.
In 1963 he was appointed chief magistrate of the newly formed Mid-Western Region, renamed Bendel State in 1976.
At the time of his appointment, he was seen as upright and non-partisan. But the 1983 elections marred with widespread irregularities affected his public rating as electoral of-ficials were accused of rig-ging the election in favour of the National Party of Nigeria, NPN.
Ovie-Whiskey declared that he was largely satisfied with the electoral process in 1983, but said: “We did not expect to be perfect”.
He denied wrongdoing and when questioned by reporters on whether “water passed under the bridge” in the elections, he said that he would faint if he saw N1m cash.