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Tag: Mimiko

  • Mimiko dumps PDP

    Barely four years after the former Ondo state governor,Dr Olusegun Mimiko and his supporters dumped the Labour Party(LP) for the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP),the medical doctor turned politicians and his supporters will today return to the Labour Party(LP).

    Mimiko will visit his ward seven in Ondo West local government where he will collect the LP’s membership card.

    He aligned with the PDP shortly before the Presidential election which was eventually won by President Muhammadu Buhari under the platform of the All Progressives Congress(APC).

    The former governor who had a brief media parley with reporters in Ondo town has officially tendered his letter of resignation from the PDP.

    The letter reads” I hereby with utmost humility inform you of my decision to resign my membership of the PDP with effect from today, June 13, 2018 for some well thought-out personal reasons.

    “It was an honour working with many prominent Nigerians whom I shared the PDP platform for the entire period I was there as a member .

    “Accept please the assurance of my very high regards”.

    Mimiko used the platform of the LP in 2007 to dislodge late governor Olusegun Agagu after winning Appeal Court Verdict held in Benin-city,Edo state capital.

    According to him,” I am conscious of my political history and determine to embrace new ideology”.

    He pointed out that politics is about choices,stressing that God has the way of every step of human beings in life.

    The former governor appreciated for his political exploits as Commissioner,Secretary to the State Government(SSG) Minister,and two term Governor,stressing that his decision to move to the LP would be value-added.

    He however hinged his exit from PDP simply to ‘comprehensive frustration’.

    The state chairman of PDP,Clement Faboyede who served as Commissioner for Community Development and Cooperative Services under Mimiko’s administration said his exit would not derail the major opposition party.

    According to him,the PDP leadership in the state and other stakeholders had done their best to change Mimiko’s mind to remain in the party,but all efforts proved futile.

  • Crack in Ondo PDP as Mimiko is set to return to LP

    •Jegede, Kunlere, others: we ‘ll remain in PDP

    There is confusion in the camp of the Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the speculated move of former Governor Olusegun Mimiko to return to his former party, the Labour Party (LP), tomorrow.

    Mimiko used LP’s platform to dislodge the late Governor Olusegun Agagu from office through the verdict of the Appeal Court, which sat in Benin, the Edo State capital, on February 23, 2009.

    Sources hinted that the governorship candidate of the party in the last election, Eyitayo Jegede, his running mate, Prince John Ola-Mafo, former Commissioners – Kayode Akinmade, Dayo Awude and Jide Adejuyigbe – among others, have resolved to remain in the PDP.

    Also, the PDP State Chairman Clement Faboyede as well as long-time ally of the former governor, Tokunbo Modupe, said they would not align with their erstwhile political leader to return to the LP.

    A former Commissioner for Transport, Nicholas Tofowomo, as well as Adedayo Omolafe (aka Expensive), Adebayo Alarapon, Senator Boluwaji Kunlere, Chief Segun Adegoke, Chief Akintade, Sola Ebiseni, Remi Olatubora and Col. Omowa (retd) said they may not return to LP with the former governor.

    Other PDP chiefs who opposed Mimiko’s defection’s move are: former Ambassador to Greece and Australia, Prof. Olu Agbi; the immediate Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr Kola Ademujimi; the party’s Deputy National Chairman (Southwest), Dr. Eddy Olafeso, Benson Amuwa and immediate Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Femi Adekanbi.

    Contacted on phone to know whether he would join his former boss from the PDP to LP, Jegede, who burst into laughter, said: “I am a member of the PDP.”

    It was learnt that Mimiko had concluded arrangements to officially quit the PDP for the LP.

    Mimiko, who was governor between 2009 and 2017, will be returning with his teeming supporters to the party he left in 2014 ahead of the 2015 general elections.

    Prior to this latest development, there were speculations of his defection in the last few months.

    Mimiko had allegedly shunned PDP’s activities at the state and the national levels immediately the party lost the last governorship election in the state.

    It was learnt that his official declaration will hold at the Ondo Civic Centre in Ondo town.

    Sources said the development will signal the rebuilding of the structure of the LP, which they said collapsed into the PDP in 2014 ahead of the last presidential election.

    It was also learnt that few members of the State Executive Council (Exco) under the former governor, many of his former appointees, at least a federal lawmaker and three members of the House of Assembly will follow him to the LP.

    Those Exco members are to be led by former Deputy Governor Lasisi Oluboyo and former Commissioner for Works, Gboye Adegbenro, as well as others who are looking for a fresh platform to contest the 2019 general elections in the state.

    The three members of the House of Assembly who were said to plan to move with Mimiko to the LP are: former Majority Leader Dayo Akinsoyinu (Ondo West I), Ade Adeniyi (Ondo West II) and Siji Akindiose (Ondo East).

    The federal lawmaker believed to be on the train is a former major financier of the LP, Joseph Akinlaja, who represents Ondo East/Ondo West Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.

    A political observer, who spoke in confidence, said: “Mimiko needs to move to the LP to regain his political relevance at the national level.”

     

  • Mimiko canvasses investment in quality education

    Former Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko has called for significant and sustained investment in quality education for the massive development of the nation.

    Mimiko spoke at the maiden edition of the Education Risk & Governance summit organised by Conrad Clark Nigeria in Lagos. He said Nigeria as one of the most resourceful countries in the world would benefit hugely from a significant and sustained investment in quality education.

    He said that such an investment would create massive development in the country and increase income flow into the economy.

    The Director General, Lagos State Office of Education Quality Assurance, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo, emphasised the need for schools to adopt the starfish structure of leadership and governance.

    This, she said, is a structure where every arm of the school is learning and growing at the same pace and where roles are properly defined and carried out accordingly and effectively.

    The Chief Executive Officer of Golden Links Educational Consultants (United Kingdom), Angelina Ikeako addressed the issues of violence, abuse and safeguarding of children.

    She emphasised the needs to empower children to speak up when abused and challenging the norm of being silent.

     

    Ikeako said: “It is time to move from strategic practices to operational practices and also to implement and monitor the child protection policies already in place to know if they are effectively carried out.”

     

     

  • Guess the guest lecturer on ideology?  Mimiko!

    It the May 2 symposium in Lagos to mark the 10th anniversary of the passage of Afenifere Leader, Senator Abraham Aderibigbe Adesanya (AAA), a young contributor, at the question-and-answer session, wondered if ideology was still relevant in Nigerian politics.

    He had been impressed by how speaker after speaker regaled the gathering with the principle and steadfastness and doughty ideology of AAA’s politics; and how he wouldn’t bit an eyelid to die for his principles.

    Yet the young man was scandalized with the way politicians moved seamlessly from party to party, ideology be damned, making him to wonder if ideology still existed in Nigerian politics.

    When broadcast ace, Yori Folarin, moderator of the symposium, gave Dr. Olusegun Mimiko,former Ondo State governor the floor, Mimiko declared “irresistible”, his urge to speak on the matter.

    And he fired off, on a brilliant lecture really, on why ideology would always be an integral part of Nigerian — and for that matter, any — politics, since politics was the frame on which any from of governance was hanged.  True.

    He also declared that the problem with Nigeria had always been the conservatives on the upswing, leaving the progressives in the lurch; and, in the process, plunging the masses into poverty and underdevelopment — hear, hear, hear!

    Then he zeroed in, on what he called “financialism”,  the latest form of political conservatism —  as the inimitable Kwame Nkrumah (God bless his soul), would dub neocolonialism the latest stage of imperialism? — which explained, he added, why near-zero investment was going into schools, hospitals and even the real productive sectors of the economy.

    Why should you, he posed that leading question quite triumphantly, when you could sit by your computer, punch the buttons and gross billions, just like that! — applause, applause, thunderous applause, for the brilliant lecturer!

    But apart from the rogue pastor in the Yoruba quip that warns his congregants to “do what I say and not what I do”, where does Mimiko himself stand in the ideological matrix?

    Between 1999 and 2014, Mimiko had traversed the entire ideological spectrum: Alliance for Democracy (AD, progressive: 1999-2003); Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, conservative: 2003-2007, even becoming secretary to the Ondo government and a minister under President Obasanjo to the bargain); Labour Party (LP, progressive conservative, conservative progressive, and which other hybrid?: 2007-2014, replete with the Ondo governorship); and back to PDP, neo-conservative?: 2015)!

    Now what do you think — our brilliant lecturer himself as excellent and majestic profile in ideology-neuter politics?

    Fela, on the other side, must be very excited this morning, on Mimiko and the gold ideology lecture.

    “Tisa,” he is humming, his Abami Eda eye glinting with eager mischief, “no teach me nonsense!” 

    What!  Even AAA himself is rocking!

  • Guess the guest lecturer on ideology? Mimiko

    At the May 2 symposium in Lagos to mark the 10th anniversary of the passage of Afenifere Leader, Senator Abraham Aderibigbe Adesanya (AAA), a young contributor, at the question-and-answer session, wondered if ideology was still relevant in Nigerian politics.

    He had been impressed by how speaker after speaker regaled the gathering with the principle and steadfastness and doughty ideology of AAA’s politics; and how he wouldn’t bat an eyelid to die for his principles.

    Yet the young man was scandalised with the way politicians moved seamlessly from party to party, ideology be damned, making him to wonder if ideology still existed in Nigerian politics.

    When broadcast ace Yori Folarin moderator of the symposium, gave Dr. Olusegun Mimiko,former Ondo State governor the floor, Mimiko declared “irresistible”, his urge to speak on the matter.

    And he fired off, on a brilliant lecture really, on why ideology would always be an integral part of Nigerian — and for that matter, any — politics, since politics was the frame on which any form of governance was hanged.  True.

    He also declared that the problem with Nigeria had always been the conservatives on the upswing, leaving the progressives in the lurch; and, in the process, plunging the masses into poverty and underdevelopment — hear, hear, hear!

    Then he zeroed in, on what he called “financialism”,  the latest form of political conservatism —  as the inimitable Kwame Nkrumah (God bless his soul), would dub neocolonialism the latest stage of imperialism? — which explained, he added, why near-zero investment was going into schools, hospitals and even the real productive sectors of the economy.

    Why should you, he posed that leading question quite triumphantly, when you could sit by your computer, punch the buttons and gross billions, just like that! — applause, applause, thunderous applause, for the brilliant lecturer!

    But apart from the rogue pastor in the Yoruba quip that warns his congregants to “do what I say and not what I do”, where does Mimiko himself stand in the ideological matrix?

    Between 1999 and 2014, Mimiko had traversed the entire ideological spectrum: Alliance for Democracy (AD, progressive: 1999-2003); Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, conservative: 2003-2007, even becoming secretary to the Ondo government and a minister under President Obasanjo to the bargain); Labour Party (LP, progressive conservative, conservative progressive, and which other hybrid?: 2007-2014, replete with the Ondo governorship); and back to PDP, neo-conservative?: 2015)!

    Now what do you think — our brilliant lecturer himself as excellent and majestic profile in ideology-neuter politics?

    Fela, on the other side, must be very excited this morning, on Mimiko and the gold ideology lecture.

    “Tisa,” he is humming, his Abami Eda eye glinting with eager mischief, “no teach me nonsense!” 

    What!  Even AAA himself is rocking!

  • We ‘ll welcome Mimiko back to Labour Party, says chair

    The National Chairman of Labour Party (LP), Dr. Mike Omotoso, has said the party will welcome Dr. Olusegun Mimiko back to its fold any time he returns.

    There are unconfirmed reports that Mimiko, a chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is contemplating a return to LP.

    Mimiko won the Ondo State governorship election through the courts in 2009, displacing the late Dr. Olusegun Agagu, who won on PDP’s platform.

    The former governor defected to PDP in 2014 before the end of his second tenure.

    PDP was defeated by All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2017 governorship election.

    In a statement in Abuja yesterday, Omotoso said LP would gain a mileage if Mimiko returned to its fold, adding that the ex- governor helped in building and nurturing the party.

  • APC report on restructuring will stoke onshore/offshore dichotomy – Mimiko

    APC report on restructuring will stoke onshore/offshore dichotomy – Mimiko

    Former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, said on Thursday the report of the All Progressives Congress (APC) committee on restructuring would stoke the already resolved dichotomy on onshore/offshore oil production revenue.

    Mimiko stated this in his lecture at the 2018 Yoruba Youth Assembly Lecture with the theme: “National Development, Restructuring and the Yoruba,” held in Ibadan, Oyo State.

    The former governor said that while it is commendable that the report endorsed the resource control principle, it has brought back the sensitive and controversial onshore/offshore dichotomy issue.

    “While I agree that the fears of all part of the country must be allayed as regards resource control, it is important to note that every part of our land is well resource endowed. With the recent advances in power storage technology in batteries and progressively reducing cost of renewables, we must be constantly reminded that fossil fuel will soon become truly fossil,” he said.

    Mimiko expressed his lack of confidence in the APC’s commitment to restructuring with President Muhammadu Buhari’s stand in his New Year message that it is the process of governance in Nigeria rather than the structure that requires some tinkering.

    He added: “Rather than waste useful time tinkering with process, the appropriate thing to do is a wholesale review of the nature of the structure, such that it is reconfigured to be able to deliver on its mandate. That the President’s political party, APC, came out very quickly to attempt a reformulation of the President’s proposition is needless, as it is doubtful if the party is in a position to veto the President of the nation.

    “That President Buhari made his statement despite the bold and unequivocal commitment of the APC manifesto to restructuring is also indicative of the questionable pattern in which the party swept its way into office some three years ago. APC can, in the circumstances, safely be accused of promising what it never intended to do.”

     

  • 2015 poll: Mimiko wanted me to prosecute Buhari for certificate forgery – Adoke

    2015 poll: Mimiko wanted me to prosecute Buhari for certificate forgery – Adoke

    … Jonathan was under pressure not to leave power – Mu’azu

    A former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke ( SAN ) said on Thursday that ex- Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, mounted pressure on him to prosecute President Muhammadu Buhari for certificate forgery few months before the 2015 presidential election.

    Adoke, however, said he resisted the pressure because Buhari was more than qualified to contest the poll.

    These facts were contained in a written statement by the ex-minister on what transpired behind the curtains before the 2015 poll.

    Adoke’s statement was read in Abuja by a columnist, Mr. Dele Momodu, at the presentation of a book: “On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan won and lost Nigeria,” written by a former Minister of Sports, Mr. Bolaji Abdullahi.

    The ex-AGF said: “Further to our discussion sir, I hereby confirm that what Bolaji wrote in his book in respect of Mimiko putting pressure on me to issue a fiat to prosecute PMB (Buhari) is true.

    “A lawyer had previously written to seek my fiat to prosecute PMB for forgery and I declined on the ground that there were no materials placed before me to exercise my discretion and that the request does not satisfy the legal threshold for me to exercise my discretion to grant fiat to prosecute Gen. Buhari.

    “Subsequent to that, I was called by Governor Mimiko who tried to prevail on me to issue the fiat for political expediency and I refused by making it very clear to him that the legal threshold for the exercise of my discretion has not been met and that in any case assuming Gen. Buhari has no secondary school certificate, he has the equivalent of a school certificate as he is a retired General and a former Head of State and thus satisfied the prequalification requirements of the constitution to contest the office of the President.

    “I further informed him that the Court of Appeal, Benin, has settled the law in that aspect. I left him and proceeded to brief the President on my encounter with Governor Mimiko and my response to his request. President Jonathan agreed with me and said I should uphold the letters of the constitution and the law.”

    “And l added that he (Buhari) attended the War College in the United States as a serving General and as such more than qualified to contest.”

    The presentation of Adoke’s clarification drew applause from the audience who felt elated.

    Also, a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ahmed Adamu Mu‘azu, said ex-President Goodluck Jonathan was under intense pressure from different friends and associates not to give up power.

    Momodu, also related the encounter he had with Mu‘azu on how Jonathan almost changed his mind to concede defeat to Buhari.

    He said: “l have also read accounts of how President Goodluck Jonathan nearly changed his mind after congratulating the winner and wanted to use PDP operatives and apparatus to challenge the authenticity and validity of the election results in the courts but the PDP Chairman, Alhaji Ahmed Adamu Mu‘azu, blatantly refused to support such a move.

    “When we spoke last week, he (confirmed it was a true account of what happened and said President Jonathan was under intense pressure from different friends and associates not to give up power. He insisted that his decision was to save his flag bearer from agents of chaos and save Nigeria from even bigger and unnecessary catastrophe!

    “He said President Jonathan had achieved what has never happened in Nigeria and would have lost so much had he rescinded his early and earlier congratulations to President-elect Muhammadu Buhari.

    “Rather than accuse Mu’azu of betraying his party, he should be commended for promoting the finest tenets of democracy; if you lose election, please GO IN PEACE. He‘s proud that through his patriotic act, President Jonathan has successfully joined the distinguished company of world’s statesmen and he is much respected for that status throughout the world today.

    “I must note that Bolaji has done a very painstaking job in this book and I believe we must all endeavour to learn lessons from the tragedy that befell PDP and the Jonathan government. One of the biggest problems bedeviling our country is that of our inability to learn any lessons from history.

    “I gave up on the Jonathan administration the day Bolaji Abdullahi was sacked without any reasonable justification. I was sad and miserable for Nigeria and wept silently for our collective future.

    “Today Bolaji is back triumphantly. Great men like Bolaji can only be delayed in their journey of life but I am sure he will ultimately arrive at the destination designed for him by the Almighty.”

  • Mimiko leads Ondo PDP delegates

    Mimiko leads Ondo PDP delegates

    Ahead of People Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) December 9 and 10 national convention in Abuja, former Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko and his former Chief of Staff, Chief Kola Ademujimi, have been elected as national delegates for Ondo West and Idanre local government areas.

    The election took place at the party’s local government secretariats across the state.

    In Idanre, three delegates were elected for each of the 10 wards and the local government executive members elected Dr. Ademujimi as the local government’s representative for the national convention.

    The peaceful election was witnessed by a former Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade, as well as Taye Akinyele and a former chairman of the local government, Marcus Adeoti.

    Ademujimi hailed the delegates for displaying maturity and a sense of duty during the election.

    He promised to ensure quality representation of the people at the national convention, adding that there was no victor or vanquished in the election.

    Ademujimi will be among the delegates to vote for a new PDP National Chairman on December 9 at the party’s national convention.

    Other delegates from the state include PDP’s 2016 governorship candidate, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede, representing Akure South Local Government Area; Ibukun Lawrence, representing Ifedore Local Government Area; John Ola Mafo, representing Ilaje Local Government Area and Eni Akinsola, representing Okitipupa Local Government Area.

    PDP’s national chairmanship slot has been zoned to the South, which comprises the Southwest, Southsouth and Southeast.

     

  • Mimiko advises FG to prioritize maternal healthcare

    Mimiko advises FG to prioritize maternal healthcare

    Mimiko gave the advise while speaking with newsmen, on Friday, at the Chatham House in London after delivering a paper on “Improving Access to Health Services for All” using his Ondo achievement in maternal and child health as a case study.

    The former Ondo governor said funding will never be adequate in any human setting but with the right kind of leadership, the country can drastically reduce maternal mortality, which is about 19 percent of global maternal deaths according to the World Bank. “We must call a major stakeholders’ meeting where there will be an agreement on a universal health package that every state in the country can afford, and create an eligibility criteria for those who build on it so that they can be rewarded accordingly and eventually we will get there.

    As we do this, we prioritize safe motherhood and child health” he said. Mimiko also took time to demonstrate how his administration as Governor of Ondo state midwived a functional and effective healthcare delivery system, which attracted local and international recognitions as a proven method of reducing maternal mortality particularly with the introduction of his homegrown initiatives such as Abiye (Safe motherhood) program, Agbebiye and Orirewa that crashed the maternal mortality indices in the state.

    The former governor charged Nigerian leaders at every level not to see only physical structures as achievement saying that quality healthcare for women is a great empowerment tool “Safe motherhood is a gender parity tool, every woman wants good life.

    They will be empowered if they can have access to quality health without catastrophic spending. What will eventually drive universal health coverage in Africa is the political will and that is what will generate passion and it the passion that will attract donors from around the world,” Mimiko stated.

    Also present at the event were Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, stakeholders in the health sector from Nigeria and Africa who came to discuss how to optimize global opportunities in achieving Universal Health Coverage and Health Security in Nigeria.