Niko Nawaikula

Niko Nawaikula (born 1960), also known as Nikolau Tuiqamea, is a Native Fijian politician,^[1] who was appointed to the House of Representatives on 22 June 2005. The Conservative Alliance (CAMV) candidate was declared elected unopposed, after the only other candidate, Ratu Osea Vakalalabure of the United Fiji Party (SDL) withdrew from the contest, thus averting the scheduled byelection. The CAMV had called on the SDL to withdraw its candidate on the basis of a coalition agreement between the two parties.

The byelection had been called for the Cakaudrove West Fijian Communal Constituency following the imprisonment of the incumbent, Ratu Vakalalabure (Ratu Osea's older brother), on charges related to his role in the Fiji coup of 2000. Nawaikula is currently Secretary of the Fiji Native Tribal Congress—www.fijinativetribalcongress.com

Nawaikula qualified as a lawyer at the University of Tasmania in 1985, and has specialized in laws related to native land and indigenous people. He has called for harsher penalties for rapists.^{[citation needed]} A strong supporter of conservative family values, he says that parents should take their children's upbringing and education seriously.

Following the merger of Nawaikula's CAMV into the SDL in early 2006, he won reelection under the SDL banner in the poll held on 6–13 May, and was subsequently elected Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

After the SDL government was removed in December 2006 by Frank Bainimarama, Commander of the Fiji Military, Nawaikula returned to his Private Practice as a Lawyer and continue to involve himself on issues affecting indigenous native Fijians.In June 2010 after returning from the 10th UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York, Nawaikula together with the Paramount Chiefs of Fiji formed THE FIJI NATIVE AND TRIBAL CONGRESS,a nonprofit and non government body the objectives of which is to protect and advance the rights of Indigenous Fijians, as an Indigenous group, and to negotiate with the government and concerned citizens for that purpose in a manner that balances those rights with the individual rights and group rights of other citizens in Fiji and to champion Human Rights generally.

Nawaikula hails from Buca, Natewa, in Cakaudrove Province. He is married, to Miliakere Nawaikula, with five children.

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