Olusegun Mimiko: A Man Of The People
Only very few politicians in the country today are as charismatic as Dr. Olusegun Rahman Mimiko, the governor of Ondo State and one of the torch bearers of the emerging new democratic Nigeria.
A grassroot politician who is loved and adored by his people unlike other politicians that are in search of Godfathers to enable them reach the apogee of their political career. Mimiko is his own Godfather. His Godfather is embedded in his love for his people, who in turn showers him with their love and votes when he needs it.
By 2003, when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) began to make inroad into the South West, Mimiko has already been established as a grassroot politician with well organized political structure on the ground. The PDP rode on the back of Mimiko’s structure to win the state in the 2003 gubernatorial election . Because of the enormous contribution of Mimiko in the victory of the PDP, he was rewarded with the position of secretary to the state government.
Former president Olusegun Obasanjo was to later pluck him from Ondo State and brought him to Abuja to become the Minister of Housing and Urban Development. It was a position that gave him a national platform to flourish, which he did.
With his success at both state and national level as secretary to the State Government and Minister of Housing and Urban Development respectively, the pressure started to mount on him as the election 2007 approaches, to join the governorship race.
Mimiko eventually left his position as minister and joined the race. With a well organized structure at the palms of his hands, it was only a matter of time before the PDP in the state found itself in his pocket. It was very obvious Olusegun Mimiko was going to become the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP for the 2007 election. It was not to be.
Mimiko’s inability to pick the PDP ticket was not because he has suddenly become unpopular. Far from it. It was Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the then president, well known for returning good for evil that stood between him and the ticket.
The PDP having used his structure to win in 2003 election was confident that they can do it again without him. He was forced to leave the party and found succor in the Labour Party (LP).
The Labour Party, which was a newly registered political party were hardly known to Nigerians, except in the circle of those that registered it. Mimiko soon emerged as the gubernatorial candidate of the party for the 2007 election.
He won the election but the PDP stole the victory. The physician turn politician had to run to the judiciary to seek for help to restore his mandate. At the judiciary, that bastion of hope for the common man, Mimiko scored victory after victory.
During the final judicial session on the matter concerning Mimiko’s petition, the Appeal Court sitting in Benin on February 23, 2009 the Edo State capital declared him as the unblemished winner of the April 2007 gubernatorial election in Ondo State.
The panel of five justices led by the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, Unanimously upheld the decision of the Ondo State election petitions Tribunal, that had on July 25, 2008 declared Mimiko as the winner of the election.
The Appeal Court said Mimiko won in 12 out of the 18 local governments of the state. By the courts decision, the then governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu was disgraced out of office and Mimiko was sworn in. Mimiko is currently the first and only member of the Labour Party to win gubernatorial office in Nigeria.
At every opportunity Mimiko has shown that he is the Peoples’ governor. Nothing exemplifies it better than the relief he brought to retired teachers who had thought that their gratuities can only be gotten in heaven. For more than two decades, pensioners in Ondo State have been going through agonies and pains due to the failure of past administrations to settle their entitlement. But the jinx was broken when Mimiko paid the entitlement of 1,551 retirees to the tune of N1.4 billion, thereby providing opportunity for a new beginning for the retirees that are still alive.
In terms of performance in office, Mimiko has been adjudged one of the best governors in the country. For his dogged fight for justice without resorting to violence, Mimiko has won a lot of admirers across the country that considers him their hero of democracy.
Olusegun Mimiko was born on 3 October 1954, to Pa and Mrs. Atiku Bamidele Mimiko of Ondo, Ondo State. His great, great grandfather was the High Chief Adaja Gbegbaje of Ondo. His great grandfather, Chief Akinmeji, was the distinguished Ruwase of Ondo. His grandfather, Pa Famimikomi, was an accomplished man. His gallantry in those long years attracted great respect, some of which rubbed-off on his own son, the late Pa A. B. Mimiko, himself an accomplished manager of men and materials, a cocoa plantation farmer, an avid reader and monitor of global developments, an erudite social commentator and a compassionate leader of men. Dr. Mimiko’s mother is of the eminent Ogunsulie family of Ondo Kingdom.
A grassroot politician who is loved and adored by his people unlike other politicians that are in search of Godfathers to enable them reach the apogee of their political career. Mimiko is his own Godfather. His Godfather is embedded in his love for his people, who in turn showers him with their love and votes when he needs it.
By 2003, when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) began to make inroad into the South West, Mimiko has already been established as a grassroot politician with well organized political structure on the ground. The PDP rode on the back of Mimiko’s structure to win the state in the 2003 gubernatorial election . Because of the enormous contribution of Mimiko in the victory of the PDP, he was rewarded with the position of secretary to the state government.
Former president Olusegun Obasanjo was to later pluck him from Ondo State and brought him to Abuja to become the Minister of Housing and Urban Development. It was a position that gave him a national platform to flourish, which he did.
With his success at both state and national level as secretary to the State Government and Minister of Housing and Urban Development respectively, the pressure started to mount on him as the election 2007 approaches, to join the governorship race.
Mimiko eventually left his position as minister and joined the race. With a well organized structure at the palms of his hands, it was only a matter of time before the PDP in the state found itself in his pocket. It was very obvious Olusegun Mimiko was going to become the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP for the 2007 election. It was not to be.
Mimiko’s inability to pick the PDP ticket was not because he has suddenly become unpopular. Far from it. It was Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the then president, well known for returning good for evil that stood between him and the ticket.
The PDP having used his structure to win in 2003 election was confident that they can do it again without him. He was forced to leave the party and found succor in the Labour Party (LP).
The Labour Party, which was a newly registered political party were hardly known to Nigerians, except in the circle of those that registered it. Mimiko soon emerged as the gubernatorial candidate of the party for the 2007 election.
He won the election but the PDP stole the victory. The physician turn politician had to run to the judiciary to seek for help to restore his mandate. At the judiciary, that bastion of hope for the common man, Mimiko scored victory after victory.
During the final judicial session on the matter concerning Mimiko’s petition, the Appeal Court sitting in Benin on February 23, 2009 the Edo State capital declared him as the unblemished winner of the April 2007 gubernatorial election in Ondo State.
The panel of five justices led by the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, Unanimously upheld the decision of the Ondo State election petitions Tribunal, that had on July 25, 2008 declared Mimiko as the winner of the election.
The Appeal Court said Mimiko won in 12 out of the 18 local governments of the state. By the courts decision, the then governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu was disgraced out of office and Mimiko was sworn in. Mimiko is currently the first and only member of the Labour Party to win gubernatorial office in Nigeria.
At every opportunity Mimiko has shown that he is the Peoples’ governor. Nothing exemplifies it better than the relief he brought to retired teachers who had thought that their gratuities can only be gotten in heaven. For more than two decades, pensioners in Ondo State have been going through agonies and pains due to the failure of past administrations to settle their entitlement. But the jinx was broken when Mimiko paid the entitlement of 1,551 retirees to the tune of N1.4 billion, thereby providing opportunity for a new beginning for the retirees that are still alive.
In terms of performance in office, Mimiko has been adjudged one of the best governors in the country. For his dogged fight for justice without resorting to violence, Mimiko has won a lot of admirers across the country that considers him their hero of democracy.
Olusegun Mimiko was born on 3 October 1954, to Pa and Mrs. Atiku Bamidele Mimiko of Ondo, Ondo State. His great, great grandfather was the High Chief Adaja Gbegbaje of Ondo. His great grandfather, Chief Akinmeji, was the distinguished Ruwase of Ondo. His grandfather, Pa Famimikomi, was an accomplished man. His gallantry in those long years attracted great respect, some of which rubbed-off on his own son, the late Pa A. B. Mimiko, himself an accomplished manager of men and materials, a cocoa plantation farmer, an avid reader and monitor of global developments, an erudite social commentator and a compassionate leader of men. Dr. Mimiko’s mother is of the eminent Ogunsulie family of Ondo Kingdom.
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