Pio Tikoduadua

Tikoduadua was born in Namalata, Tailevu and raised by his single mother, Senoveva Ranadi. He attended primary school at Natovi and Saint Vincent College as well as St John's College in Levuka.[1] He joined the Republic of Fiji Military Forces cadet training school with the current RFMF Commander, Brigadier-General Mosese Tikoitoga. He also worked as an interpreter in the local courts to gain experience. He was educated at multiple universities including University of New South Wales, the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies in Canberra and the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, reaching the rank of Lieutenant colonel after graduating from the Australian Defence Force Command and Staff College in 2006. As a military officer, he has served in Lebanon, Egypt, East Timor and the Solomon Islands. He has also held several leadership roles before becoming Chief Of Staff: Operations at the RFMF. Following the 2006 Fijian coup d'état he was one of a number of military officers appointed to senior public service positions. He was initially appointed as Permanent Secretary of Justice,[2] and in 2008 as Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's office.[3][4]

In June 2014, Tikoduadua resigned as permanent secretary to pursue a career in politics, joining the FijiFirst party.[5] He was elected in the 2014 election, in which he won 3,611 votes.[6] He was appointed to Cabinet as Minister for Infrastructure and Transport in September 2014.[7] On May 11, 2015, he resigned as Minister due to his failing health as he suffers from an advanced form of cancer and wanted to spend time with his family and his people in Delasui, Tailevu.[8] Assistant Minister for Education, Vijay Nath was then appointed as the Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport.[9]

In April 2017, he returned to politics, joining the National Federation Party. He expressed doubts about the actions of the military regime, including its rewriting of the constitution in 2013,[3] and claimed that he resigned from FijiFirst after MP Dr Neil Sharma was forced to resign after voting against the government on a matter of conscience.[10] In June 2017, he was appointed the NFP President.[11]

He ran as a candidate for the NFP in the 2018 elections and was elected,[12] winning 2684 votes.

In August 2019 Tikoduadua was assaulted by Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama after a parliamentary debate.[13] The assault was captured on video,[14] and was subsequently referred to the Fijian Parliament's Privileges Committee.[15] he committee found that there was no assault, and that the two parties should apologise to each other for verbally attacking one another in parliament.[16] When Tikoduadua refused to do so he was suspended from Parliament for six weeks.[17] A police complaint for assault resulted in no charges being laid as it was a matter for parliament.[18][19] Two parliamentary staff who had videoed the assault were forced to resign.[20]

In April 2020 Tikoduadua was arrested for sharing a video exposing brutality by Fijian Police over Facebook.[21] No charges were laid against him,[22] and five police officers were later charged over the assault he exposed.[23]

• FijiFirst