Mimiko talks tough: ‘INEC’S substitution of Jegede with Jimoh Ibrahim is a joke from hell . It will not stand’

The lingering battle over the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State in the November 26 election between Mr Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) and Mr Jimoh Ibrahim takes a twist as Governor Olusegun Mimiko talks tough, saying the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) substitution of Jegede with Ibrahim will not stand. In this interview, Mimiko also speaks on the insinuation that he visited President Muhammadu Buhari to lobby him to defect to the All Progressives Party (APC), the ruling party at the federal level.

In the last couple of weeks, there have been issues in the PDP family in Ondo State. What is the situation and the way forward? People are itching to hear from you as the leader of the party in the state. You are quite  aware of the bizarre development in the politics of Nigeria, and  in the  politics of this state in the last  three  weeks. If you will recall that Eyitayo Jegede (SAN)  of the  PDP was elected in an open, free primary monitored by INEC and all the security agencies. But we woke up on October 27 to find  that his name had  been substituted with the name of  somebody who, as  of  that time, could not lay claim to being a member of the party  and the primary from which he purportedly emerged  was conducted outside Ondo State, specifically in Ibadan, and neither INEC, SSS nor any of the security agencies was there to witness what happened. 

So there is no question about the fact that what happened on October 27 was a contrived conspiracy of sort because the decision of INEC cannot find comfort in justice, in principle, in law, in morality.   Ordinarily, in many other climes, there could have been violent uprising, but in this state, the people stood up to make it absolutely clear  that, that will not stand, but  that we must ensure that we do not truncate the peace that we have enjoyed in this state in the last eight years. It’s been a lot of investments all the way, being able to engender the level of peace that we have put in place in this state and I’m particularly appreciative of the people that, inspite of this provocative conspiracy, they have not in anyway truncated the peace in the land.   

After this, I believe   the proper thing to do was to seek redress through the  constitutional channels.   Redress has been sought by the candidate himself, Eyitayo Jegede, by the PDP and major stakeholders.   We have no doubt in our minds that justice will be done, because like I said, this impunity will not stand.   I want to assure our people in Ondo State, especially  the PDP, now I am talking as a leader of the party in the state, I want to tell you that we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that  they get justice.   Let me again appeal to  our people that while they demonstrate their resistance to this injustice, we must ensure that we keep the peace.   It is the peace that God has enabled us to emplace in this state that has engendered the development that we have enjoyed in the last eight years.  

 I beg our people to remain peaceful. Weeks away from the election, possibly for the umpteenth time, one will ask, what is the way forward and what hope do you have for your candidate, what hope do you have for the people? Let me repeat what I have said , the injustice will not stand. Eyitayo Jegede will contest election on the platform of PDP. I’m talking as a leader of the PDP in this state and also with what is on ground in terms of what Eyitayo is bringing on board.   I don’t have any doubt in my mind that Eyitayo Jegede will be the next governor of the state. About a forthnight ago, you met with President Buhari following which there have been the insinuation  that you have gone there to parley with him, possibly to cross over to the other side of the divide. You know that in politics, conspiracy theories abound. Let me bring us back to what happened on October 27.   

The substitution of Eyitayo by INEC was a joke from hell. You live in this state, you saw the spontaneity in the reaction of the people.   Like I said, we never saw it coming; the decision can find no comfort in   law, in the guidelines of INEC itself.   This is a situation where somebody without INEC, without security agencies monitoring, went to Ibadan to conduct a  primary election, then brought  a  controversial court order and declared the candidate of the PDP by INEC. What this means is that somebody can go to Enugu or Onitsha; he doesn’t even have to be a citizen of Ondo State, bring an order to INEC and you substitute  a duly elected person.   It is  bizarre, abnormal, without precedence in politics and, because of the provocative nature of that decision and because it was not based on any law or guideline, the next person to see  was the President who is the Chief Security Officer of the country.   

And I met with Mr President and presented the facts  to  him  and he gave his commitment that he will look into it and that he will ensure that justice is done.   I have no cause to doubt him.   It wasn’t about APC, PDP.   It was about the President being the Chief Security Officer of the nation.   If I, as the Chief Security Officer of my state, sensed danger ahead in terms of something that  could  truncate the peace in the state; I thought I had that responsibility and I had a very encouraging response from Mr President.   I have no cause to doubt him, he has said he will look into it and that  if there is any injustice in this, he will ensure that justice is done at the end of the day.  So it’s not about crossing over to the APC?     No, it’s not about party at all.   I’m in PDP…. by   the way I also heard the rumour  making the   rounds   about me going to APC or making alliances with other parties.   

There’s nothing, absolutely nothing like that.   I want to assure the people of  Ondo,  I want to assure all members, officials of the PDP that this gubernatorial election, Eyitayo Jegede will contest as the candidate of the PDP.   I have   no doubt about it and, again, like I said earlier on, we’ve been here for some time, we know our people and they know us; they know what we’ve put on ground, they know our challenges and they know what Eyitayo is capable of doing to advance the cause of development in this state;   I have no doubt in my mind that Eyitayo Jegede will be the next governor, and John Ola Mafo will be the next deputy governor of this state. That  leads to the issue of governance because governance continues.  And aside from the heavy politics in the air, what do you  have brewing on the table? One thing is that while politics is going on, we have not in any way stopped  governance. Everybody can see that in this state, all the signs of good governance are  there. 

The shuttle buses are running, the Mother &    Child  Hospitals are running, other  hospitals are running, our cities remain clean,   the environmental officers are up and doing, the state is running very well.   There is security, the security agencies – police, SSS, military –  everybody is up running.   As I speak, some of our capital projects are going on.   Recently,  we embarked on the rehabilitation of Owo-Ikare Road, that has been completed now.   As I speak, we have concluded arrangements to bring down the Oke-Alabojuto in Ikare – to expand   that road and ensure that, at the entrance in Ikare, in terms of the road, is modern and befitting.   We are into many other things.   The road that will link Irele with Okitipupa, the Ayeka bridge and the extension of the road is ongoing.   Many of these critical capital projects are ongoing.   The mega schools started  recently – I was told – that the Igbekebo, Arogbo Mega Schools are being completed.   Many works are going on and governance has not stopped.   

I want to assure the people of this state that we will continue to work until the last day of this administration  and our prayer is that we will  handover to Eyitayo Jegede, who will  continue and expand and deepen the development paradigm that we have embarked upon in the last eight years. What is  the reason that makes you support Eyitayo Jegede, SAN,  as your successor. What exactly is the driving force. Whatever anybody says ….. in the  almost eight years that we have been here, we have worked very hard to change the story of this state, from one provincial backhood stage to a stage that is coming to benchmark many programmes, not only for Nigeria but Africa.   When development issues are being discussed in Nigeria today, Ondo  definitely has a place.   We have done a lot to bring about peace in Ondo State, we have done a lot of gender development, we have done a lot to ensure that the people are proud to be Ondo  indigenes.  

 When we started the Dome project, our vision was very clear; we said we wanted to make Ondo  the number one event destination in Nigeria.   We are not there yet, but there is no question about the fact that we are near perfect, it will get to a stage that I said then, that there will be no event that is actually called an event, if that event has not taken place in our international event centre, and we are on the path to it.   This vision that is unfolding before us is not completed yet.   Let me give you an example. We looked at industrialisation for example, we did a very thorough forensic analysis for what became of the industries that existed in this state before.   

Two things and the most important and critical is power.   It got to a stage that the products could not be competitive because of power …. look at Oluwa Glass for example, the furnace has to be run on diesel, black oil, non-stop.   It got to a stage, that  that was no longer competitive.   There is also the administrative part of it;  too much government interference  and they messed it up’ but the most important ….look at them all, is it Ifon Ceramics; the most common factor that supercedes all of those factories had been  power.   When we came on board  and we did a thorough analysis of all of this, we thought we wanted to do something about power, that was even before reforming the power sector and we signed MoUs with many private sector people and let us set up our full independent power, let  us put it in an industrial park, let us put it in Ore because of the strategic advantage of Ore; just a few hours from Lagos, which is the biggest market in Africa. 

That power plant, the turbines have been installed and it is the first tri-fuel powerplant in Africa.   What we are doing now is make sure that we get gas into the place. When this is completed and  it is  85%-90% completed, industrialisation will just come and sit.   I was sitting somewhere and somebody said he will revamp all the industries that are dead in Ondo. I just laughed because he didn’t know what he was talking about.   That could be snowball’s talk, but when it comes to reality, the facts on ground, there are some critical steps that must be taken.   We have taken those  critical steps.   

Tayo Jegede is part of all these processes; Tayo Jegede is all about the thinking that went into the Dome, into the power plant, into the larger industrial city. We  need somebody who knows all of these; who has the  competence and who has the heart of the people to continue to drive; that is why I am passionate about this candidate.   I have no doubt in my mind that he is a guy that has a very good heart;   so he will drive this state very well.
(Vanguard)