Dr. Olusegun Mimiko

“THANK YOU ONDO STATE: A LAND OF FORTITUDE AND UNCOMMON COURAGE!”

Text of Dr Olusegun Mimiko. Ondo State Governor-Elect response to the Ondo State Election Tribunal Ruling on Friday 25, 2008

The good people of Ondo State, it is with great joy and utmost gratitude to God that I stand on the threshold of history today to acknowledge your unprecedented fortitude and uncommon courage in the defense of truth and democracy. On April 14, 2007 , you made a choice on who you wanted as Governor. You demonstrated through your votes that you desired a new direction. For several months thereafter, in the face of the utmost level of abuse, physical and psychological torture to which any electorate anywhere in this country has ever been subjected, you insisted on your choice. But in doing so, you demonstrated an uncanny confidence in the ability of our Judiciary to do justice. You heeded our call on you not to be violent. You refused to be provoked, focusing only on the retrieval of your mandate through peaceful means.

My heart goes out today to the masses of our people, our real heroes and heroines, in the cities and villages of Ondo State, who have been in the frontline of our most difficult but ennobling struggle for the emancipation of our State. I share the feeling of our most traumatized citizens who watched mouth agape as governance in their beloved Sunshine State sank to an unprecedented low level, defined most unfortunately by a most brazen form of disregard for their sensibilities. I understand the frustrations of our people who only sought to earn a decent living but remained victims of deliberate disempowerment spurned by a regime of doubtful commitment to the common good. I salute those of our leaders who for what they believe in were made victims of media violence and objects of sundry politically motivated armed attacks and were hounded around these past 15 months as if they were common criminals.

I salute our civil servants, including Local Government employees, who were sentenced to working, these past months, in an environment increasingly polluted by mutual distrust, a heavy dose of politicization and arrant violation of the most cherished ethics of their calling. Our heart goes out to our teeming population of teachers. Their lot it has been since Election Day, April 14, 2007, to provide answers to the probing questions of our kids on the nature of the brigandage that occurred at some of our polling units on that day. This was truly traumatic coming against the backdrop of our age-old culture of admonition to our most impressionable children to be truthful, dutiful, diligent, patriotic and God-fearing in all their dealings and life engagements. I salute our farmers many of whom have had their farm lands and economic trees maliciously bulldozed away by a government to whom they should ordinarily turn for succour at times of peril. Our artisans, traders, drivers, ‘okada’ riders, market women and men deserve commendation for their resolute stand on the side of truth.

I appreciate the anger and frustrations of the youths of Ondo State whose thirst for a secured future has thus far failed to be assuaged. I empathize with the elites who trooped out to provide leadership for our people on Election Day but watched with utter disbelief the violent snatching of their mandate and the goings-on in our beloved State ever since.

We know what everyone of you has passed through these past months. Let us all take solace in the fact that now; 15 months after which you took the historic decision, on who you wanted as Governor, the Nigerian Judiciary has given effect to your decision! The Election Petition Tribunal has ruled that your votes deserve to count; and that your ballots should be consequential. It declared what the entire world had always known – that we won the April 14, 2007, gubernatorial election in Ondo State! It is now time, therefore, to begin to heal old wounds, build bridges across the political divide and bring all our people, citizens of Ondo State all, together. The challenge of governance that is ahead of us is enormous. We cannot afford to brood forever on the pains of the past.

I seize this wonderful opportunity to salute the Justices that sat on the Ondo State Election Petitions Tribunals. These great representatives of the Nigerian Judiciary conducted themselves with utmost sense of integrity. In the face of intimidation, sometimes subtle, sometimes overt, and other forms of unspeakable pressures, these gentlemen and women demonstrated a great sense of integrity, professionalism and patriotism. On behalf of the good people of Ondo State, I salute you for not providing a platform for avoidable carnage in this State. You came, you sought the truth, you saw the truth and you demonstrated character and the courage of your conviction to declare the truth. When the history of democracy shall be written in this State, nay in this country, be assured, Your Lordships, that your names shall appear in gold.

I salute our lawyers under the most distinguished leadership of Chief Oluwole Olanipekun, SAN, for their friendship and commitment. The same goes to our staff and team of experts that literally worked round the clock these past grueling but ennobling months to provide critical support to our legal team. I salute our Party leaders, at all levels, for their legendary doggedness and unshakeable commitment to justice and democracy. The friends of Ondo State across the nation who agonized with us when it seemed that the cord of peace was going to snap with all the dire consequences, and who supported us all the way in this long, tortuous but eye-opening exercise, I say a big thank you. To all those who joined us in prayers throughout all of these months, we appreciate you.

I thank President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who in a graceful and most profound manner has spurned a political and social environment in Nigeria that made it possible for the best in our Judiciary to blossom.

Above all, our appreciation is to God – the all knowing, the omnipotent. He alone understood why all of us and our State had to take this tortuous path to this new beginning. Confident are we that having entirely packaged us for this purpose, the good Lord will continually stand by us to do according to His will at all times. The good people of Ondo State, is there any one out there that never believed in God and His mighty powers? Undoubtedly, the events of the past 15 months are enough testimony that God is not only a Nigerian; He indeed is of Ondo State extraction! He not only exists, but actually rules in the kingdom of men and gives power to whomsoever He wills. He indeed is an awesome God. We give Him praise!

Ondo State, by remaining on track these past months, you have demonstrated that you are a people with unequaled maturity, sense of history and decency. You remained unshaken and unshakeable. Be assured that I am fully conscious of the historical challenge attendant upon your demonstrated confidence in our leadership. It is to deliver a government that is so qualitative and so effective as to justify your confidence in us and the sacrifice you have made before, on and since April 14, 2007. Indeed, the sustained brutalization that our people suffered these past 15 months will only be worth their while if we can rapidly transform their socio-economic status within a very short period and for all time. This would no doubt require a lot of hardwork and selflessness. I therefore hereby solemnly pledge that by God’s own special grace, it is by the good of the people of this State alone that all our governmental activities will be driven. In the best of utilitarianism, the greatest good of the greatest number of citizens of Ondo State shall at all times constitute the compass by which all our actions in government shall be guided. I will put everything it has pleased God to give me into this task and ensure that we do not derail, and by the grace of God, we shall not derail. As we have said repeatedly, in the midst of the stupendous endowment of our State, human and material, no one deserves to be married to poverty.

The people of Ondo State spoke clearly on April 14. For 15 long and agonizing months of judicial battle and government-sponsored harassment, they held their ground. The courts have now spoken. It is time for Dr. Olusegun Agagu to leave. This is the only path of honour left. As well, I appeal to all of our compatriots, politicians and leaders, who found themselves staying back on the other side of the political divide these past one and half years. I say with all sense of responsibility that the time has come for you to now cast your lot with the people of this State. The old divisions need not linger forever. It is time to join hands, once again, in the larger interest of our people and our State.

I cannot thank you enough, the good people of Ondo State, for the very matured and dignified manner in which you have conducted yourselves during the obviously trying and difficult times that our dear State had been made to go through. As we wait patiently for events to further unfold in the next few days and weeks, I once again enjoin you all to be peaceful. Whatever the level of provocation that you may yet witness in the days ahead, let our civilized calmness continue to define the path we thread. It is our desire to have you alive and well as we walk the glorious alley together into a new dawn.

To this end, I sincerely appeal that as you go out to celebrate your well-deserved victory; do not do anything that can cause a breach of the peace. There is as yet no alternative to democracy and the rule of law in the affairs of nations. And as we celebrate, let us begin to roll up our sleeves in preparation for the work that lies ahead. Let us stand hand in hand, confidently as brothers and sisters, old and young, indigenes and non-indigenes but citizens all, on both sides of the political divide, in the conviction that in the new era unfolding before us in our Sunshine State, there is Room Enough for All!

Thank you Ondo State; and God bless you all.

Dr. Olusegun Mimiko,

Governor-elect,

Ondo State