The April 11 state election that saw PDP winning more seats in Ondo House of Assembly restores Governor Olusegun Mimiko to reckoning in the state’s politics, Special Correspondent, JULIUS ALABI, writes.
It did appear that Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko, needed the April 11, 2015 state elections to return to reckoning in the state’s politics. This is especially considering the strategies employed by the governor that suddenly changed the voting pattern and gave him victory in the House of Assembly poll in the state.
In what was considered nemesis that befalls politicians who fail to prepare early, Mimiko and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) suffered defeat in the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.
Analysts attributed the late preparation to the confusion that trailed his defection to PDP. The controversy that accompanied the movement was such that keen watchers of Ondo politics had argued that the governor would have had his tenure terminated mid-way if the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) had carried the day at the April 11 House of Assembly poll, as it had during the March 28 elections in the state.
The result of the March 28 contest in Ondo clearly saw the governor losing out to the APC, to the extent that he could only secure one seat in the Senate for his PDP while APC picked two. In the House of Representatives, APC has five seats, while PDP has four.
Faced with impeding defeat, TheNiche gathered that Mimiko changed his hard posture and strategies.
With the new agenda, the governor surprisingly bounced back from apparent defeat in the hands of the APC to victory for PDP, picking 19 House of Assembly seats. These are Akoko North East, Akoko North West Constituency II, Akoko South East, Akure North, Akure South Constituency I, Ese-Odo, Idanre, Ifedore, Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo. Others are Irele, Odigbo Constituency I, Odigbo Constituency II, Okitipupa Constituency I, Okitipupa Constituency II, Ondo East, Ondo West Constituency I, Ondo West Constituency II, Ose, and Owo Constituency I.
APC won in Akoko North West Constituency I, Akoko South West Constituency I, Akoko South West Constituency II, Akure South Constituency II, and Owo Constituency II. Elections in Ilaje Constituency I and Ilaje II were inconclusive following skirmishes that occurred in the local government area.
The Resident Electoral Commission (REC) in the state, Olusegun Agbaje, said the issue is beyond his power, stressing that the matter had been referred to Abuja.
Basking in the euphoria of the moment, the governor went to church at the Government House Chapel to thank God for the victory. In his speech, Mimiko noted that at a crucial moment in the history of the state, the peoples of the state spoke once again and supported him in his quest to maintain peace and unity in the state. He thanked the people of the state for their unflinching support during the election.
The governor had pleaded with the people of the state to vote for PDP candidates in the House of Assembly election, to ensure further promotion of peace and effective governance of the state.
In a statement issued in Akure, the state capital, through the Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade, the governor had remarked that voting for the candidates of the PDP would guarantee continuity of peace and prospects of the state. According to him, the people should demonstrate their desire to maintain and further promote the peace and growth in the state by voting for the PDP candidates in the poll.
He stressed that if the PDP had majority in the House of Assembly, it would promote mutual cooperation and synergy between the legislative and the executive arms of government.
He said he had used the instrumentality of government to impact on the lives of the less-privileged in the areas of education, urban renewal and healthcare, stressing that his achievements were not hidden from the public.
The governor used the occasion to debunk the rumour that some members of his cabinet had dumped PDP, saying that the defection of his deputy, Alli Olanusi, to APC had not affected the allegiance of his commissioners. He added that the government was resolved to do more for the state.
Even with Mimiko’s expression of confidence in the loyalty of his aides, there are still insinuations that persons who can be described as belonging to a ‘cabal’ led by Olanusi have been working tirelessly to frustrate him and eventually get him impeached.
Even when senior officials of the state have not openly admitted existence of frictions between Mimiko and Olanusi, informed observers are convinced that all is not well within the system.
There is also the fear of what eventually becomes the fate of the deputy governor, especially now that Mimiko’s PDP has the majority in the House of Assembly.
