Author: Gbenga Akinmoyo
I just thought I should share some news with you before the D-day and if you are one of the 10% of undecided electorate then perhaps this news will help you make the right decision. If of course you fall into the category of the 90% that have already decided which party and candidate you want to vote for, then read on and at the end ask yourself whether or not you have made the right decision, because you will have to live with it for at least the next four years, when another opportunity will arise to correct any mistakes. The decision you make on just one day, 20th October 2012 will determine who will govern Ondo State for the next 1,461 days (four years), so it is a very important decision.
Dr Olusegun Mimiko over the last 2-3 months has been consistent in telling you that if he is re-elected on 20th October 2012, he will give Ondo State more of what they have enjoyed over the last 44 months. So what does he mean when he says, more of the same? We have heard it from the horse’s mouth during the ward and Local Government toursof the state and also heard from members of the Mimiko Campaign Organisation (MCO), but there are other observers who have expressed views on the performance of Dr Mimiko. I share some of these with you.
This is what Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor; National President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), had to say, “Let me state that the three and a half years administration of Governor Olusegun Mimiko has brought positive changes to the state capital, Akure, and the entire Ondo State. Governor Mimiko’s humility and accessibility to his people is unique. There are differences in Ondo State from what it used to be in the past. We feel the difference as we entered Ondo State. People outside Ondo State heard what you are doing as all executive members approved Ondo State as host of this conference in our last meeting in Akwa Ibom of all the states in South-West”. We are happy for Governor Mimiko and prayed that God should give him more grace to do more for the people of the state”.
Tunde Bakare- the Convener of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), stated: “Mimiko has taken care of the needs of the Ondo grassroots people as Mimiko and the Labour Party have demonstrated that they have the capacity to give dividends of democracy to the people in the grassroots. The governor has discharged his responsibilities well and deserved a second tenure. I do not speak for any political party. It is time people know that leadership is not by might or inheritance but by living right as Mimiko has done. This is not about political party but performance. If every state in Nigeria works like Mimiko and Fashola of Lagos, the nation will change. I only met Mimiko for 10 minutes during the presidential election campaign in 2011, saying the endorsement was a support to good governance. Members of the Save Nigeria Group that are on ground assessing the performance of governors in all the states have attested to Mimiko’s performance.” I therefore advise the Ondo electorates to be vigilant and to defend their votes against rigging or any form of electoral manipulations”.
YINKA ODUMAKIN- Former Secretary of Afenifere and Incumbent Spokesperson of Save Nigeria Group (SNG) had this to say: “Right from time, Mimiko has been a progressive who performed better than many governors in ACN and PDP. When the Minister of Education went to commission the Mega Primary school buildings in Ondo, he said he has not seen such achievement anywhere in Nigeria before. In fact when I saw those school buildings; their Administrative Building is like Senate Building of my own university, Ife. A look at the Abiye project revealed that pregnant women now deliver free of charge in those hospitals. He has been able to achieve so much within the past three and half years. Within two and half year WHO approved the Abiye hospitals as a benchmark for the Africa continent. UCH now send people to Abiye for treatment. Go to the government house, he has not added a single block. In this south west, I know the wife of a governor whose convoy is three times that of Mimiko’s convoy. They are just pretending that they are Awoists, if you call yourself Awolowo’s party, and you are not doing what Awolowo was doing, you are not an Awoist. I believe that the challenge that those who want to take over from him have is that they know that he has done better than them”.
These are the words coming from COMRADE ADAMS OSHIOMOLE – GOVERNOR, EDO STATE: “Unlike other Governors, Governor Mimiko and myself, giving the circumstances of our assumption of office, the whole of the people of Nigeria look up to us for a change and I am happy that here in Ondo State, Governor Mimiko is making a difference. He is showing that there are Governors and there are Governors. I think Mimiko has more than justify the sacrifices made by your people in defence of the popular mandate. In Ondo State, we have seen Governance in action. This is Governance working according to the wishes of the people. He has shown that in democracy, only the people matters.”
Senator Ben Obi- Special Adviser to the President on Inter-party Affairs, said, “Dr Mimiko’s Safe motherhood strategy is a world class approach at saving the lives of our mothers and children and I therefore have no doubt within me that the programme, if adopted by the African continent, would make Africa a safe haven for pregnant women who were, before now, vulnerable to avoidable cheap deaths. I therefore endorse this brand called Mimiko”
Now looking at Ondo State from 1999 to 2012, we have enjoyed the ruler ship or leadership of three different political parties – Alliance For Democracy (AD) under the late Chief Adebayo Adefarati; Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under Dr Olusegun Agagu and the Labour Party (LP) which has the incumbent governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko seeking re-election for a second term.
The AD is now extinct and if anybody wants us to believe that AD and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) are one and the same, they are only trying to mislead you. Whilst some of the political characters of the AD administration of 1999 – 2003 are still on the stage, it is common knowledge that most of them are not working together in the ACN and in some cases do not see eye to eye. This leads to the conclusion that voting in an ACN government is not the same as bringing back the AD style of administration, which some people have argued served well on meagre resources. One of the major reasons for the discontent and discord in the ACN is the fact that the real ‘Progressives’ as they call themselves have not been fully integrated into the mould of the present ACN structure and as a result they have been consumed into a structure that is operating as a capitalistic profit-making enterprise with headquarters in Lagos.
If we cannot assume a return to the legacy of late Pa Adefarati, then you will have to look at the performance of the ACN-controlled states and how well or badly they have performed in comparison to the incumbent governor of Ondo State, because we are not looking for change, just for the sake of change. Can you honestly say that the governors of Osun, Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti, Edo and Lagos have out-performed the Ondo State government? If you think so, ask yourself in what way? If you want my honest opinion, whilst they may have done well in Lagos and Edo, there is no way their performance in any of the aforementioned states surpasses the performance of Dr Mimiko in Ondo State.
So, if ACN is not a viable option what about the PDP? There are very few people who have forgotten the PDP administration of Dr Olusegun Agagu 2003 – 2007 and by illegitimate extension as ruled by the courts, from 2007 to Feb 2009. Most people I have spoken to say that they are not really in a hurry to return to a PDP government having enjoyed dividends of democracy from Labour Party over the last 44 months, following the PDP’s timely departure. There is also the added dis-incentive that PDP has been unable to show sterling leadership at the Federal level, which should have rubbed off positively on a PDP contingent endorsed at the centre.
But more importantly, ‘show me your friends and I’ll tell you the kind of person you are’. We understand that prominent in the corner of Chief Olusola Oke the PDP governorship candidate is a certain multi-millionaire businessman, who hails from the Ondo South Senatorial district and has sworn to work assiduously to prevent Dr Mimiko returning to Government House. This multi-millionaire was the owner of a certain airline that failed the nation and disappointed hundreds of passengers, leaving them stranded in September 2012 both in Lagos and London. Staff and passengers did not have a good word for the owner, as the airline nosed-dived and went under. Imagine the experience of some passengers last month, checking-in your luggage, boarding the flight in Londondestined for Lagos and as you fasten your seat belt, you are asked to start contributing money that the carrier will use to fuel the aircraft to get you back to Lagos. Records show that it’s not the only failed project our multi-millionaire has undertaken and now he wants to shape the course of Ondo State for the next 4 years. Is he looking to seize Ondo State by remote control, in order to obtain access to the treasury, with a view to resuscitate his various failed projects, having failed to make in-roads with Dr Mimiko? I can’t bear the thought of Ondo State being a failed project by 2017, under the contraption called PDP and some of the domineering characters lurking in the background. It doesn’t augur well for our future.
We are left with only one viable option, the LP under the able stewardship of Dr Olusegun Mimiko.I leave you with the words of Chief Dan Nwanyanwu- The National chairman of Labour Party,“Mimiko has performed beyond even the expectations of the party going by his landmark achievements in the state, hence, he deserve to be re-elected and I therefore warn Ondo State people to be wary of those who vowed to capture the state because both the stooge and his lieutenants have no plans for the people of Ondo. They only want to share your common resources for their godfathers”.
LibertyReport
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