Ondo in the Eyes of Mimiko. Daily Independent.
It is usual for political aspirants to accuse the incumbents as corrupt or incompetent; hardly do they worry about character. Yet the word, character, is at the core of every political failure.
So, when recently the governorship candidate of Labour Party (LP) in Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko, told his audience at a fundraiser organised by his friends to support his campaign effort that the fundamental crisis in Ondo State was lack of character in the leadership of the state, he was hitting squarely at the heart of governance in the country.
“Leadership character is what is missing in Ondo State. Let’s look for people who have character”, Mimiko said.
He went ahead, surprisingly, to de-emphasise the role of political parties in the current state of affairs, saying the nation would get there in future when political parties would matter. For now, he insisted, the electorate should look at the character of individuals vying for elective offices.
He was uncomfortable with the amount of hypocrisy among Nigerian leaders.
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The Nation reports that some Ondo “leaders” have endorsed Agagu’s second term. Who are these people?
…A mob headed by a sore loser and vision-less politicians. People like:
Chief Segun Adegoke – a chronic spoiler and a spent and soulless politician without a base. It is on record that Adegoke’s allegiance goes to highest bidder. How much was the booty this time around, Chief? Sir you are better off as a lawyer if you still have what it takes, you are not in any way a leader, not even in your street in Ondo;
Senator Gbenga Ogunniya – This is a back-bencher Senator. Honestly this is one of the most under-performing Senator in Nigeria. Aside from the National Human Rights Commission Act (Amendment) Bill 2006 sponsored by the honorable Senator in 2006, I can’t find what else he has done, even as the Chairman of the Banking, Insurance and Financial Institution. It is on record that he voted “YES” to the unconstitutional elongation of Mr President’s term. How a senator who has gone AWOL from his base could be re-elected for a third term is one of the intrigues of the PDP. Information has it that his constituency office is under lock and key during his eight years in the senate.
According to Senator Ogunniya:
“There is nothing wrong about being ambitious. Ondo want to produce the governor. In God’s own time, the dream will come true. There is nothing illegitimate about competition. In 2011, it is the turn of the central district to produce the governor.”
Are these the so-called leaders?
Letter to Ondo State Progressives, Lasisi Ogunmola Mohammed. Via PostiveNigeria.org
“My fellow compatriots, many of us here in the diaspora are respectfully requesting, with all humility, and fear of God that we all allow Dr. Olusegun Mimiko to be elected as the first amongst equals (Governor) of the Sunshine State of Ondo to usher in a Government of State Unity.”
Dear Brothers, Sisters, and Respected Leaders,
The recent vulgar, depressing, and un-presidential altercation by President Olusegun Obasanjo in Akure, in support of a clearly non-performing, un-progressive, and dis-respectful current tenant of Alagbaka governor’s house is a call for action before we regret for the rest of our lives the calamity that is about to befall our dear state.
I would be wasting time and energy rehashing the pain our people have been going through under Agagu’s mis-administration for the past four years.
My most recent visit home opened my eyes to the unbelievable suffering our people have been going through. I could not believe how the lives of our people have turned for the worse. Lives have become extremely harsh for our people. This is totally unacceptable. We must rescue this unfortunate situation—FAST!
The best way forward is to agree on serious united front to rescue our state from this current misrule. Anybody that truly loves Ondo State , and wants the state to positively move forward will detest the apparent dangerous division of the progressive forces in our state. What we have in common are far more important than what separates us.
It is very clear to our people at home and in the diaspora that any of you will do a better job than the current occupier of governor’s house. But at best, only one of you can be elected, and that can only happen if we can forestall the impending rigging plan of PDP in the coming (April) elections. This can best be achieved by uniting behind the most viable candidate amongst you.
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- Gov. Olusegun Agagu indicted by Nigerian Airways Limited judicial panel (White Papers); to refund. $3.2 million
- Name excluded from EFCC list.
By Saharareporters, New York
Chief Olusegun Agagu, who is currently the governor of Ondo State, was indicted by a judicial panel of inquiry headed by Justice Obiora Nwazota for fraud and embezzlement totaling 3.5 million dollars.
According to recommendation 32 and 33 of the White Paper adopted by President Obasanjo from the panel, Chief Olusegun Agagu was required to “refund the sum of $3.5 to the national treasury being sums he stole from the defunct Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL) being part settlement of the botched lease purchase agreement”. In all, persons indicted by the Justice Nwazota’s panel were required to refund $66.3 million being sums of monies traceable to their individual accounts.
Read the full text on Sahara Reporters
Who is the Thief between Agagu and Mimiko? By Dr. Wunmi Akintide
The next election in Ondo State, if ever the whole election nationwide, is not going to end up in total mayhem and confusion and be summarily canceled, is going to go down to the wire because our fumbling President has made it so.
He has simplified for us the choice of who best deserves to be elected Governor by limiting the choice to only two candidates out of close to a dozen or more candidates that want to be the next Governor of what used to be one of the poorest states in the Commonwealth of Nigeria in 1983 and up until mid 1990s. Most Nigerians reading this article would recall that Ondo State, after so many years of being treated like a pariah state by the giant Federal Government, suddenly shot herself into prominence by finally claiming her right as an oil producing state in Nigeria. By so doing she suddenly became qualified to draw from the 13% of all revenues flowing to the whole country from oil and liquefied gas. It was a Napoleonic rise and a sea change that should have transformed our state and made life a lot easier for all her citizens across the board, if those resources had been properly managed. The truth is that all the money was stolen by pen robber- Governors and leaders who love their own pockets more than they ever love our state and people by pursuing white elephant projects all over the place.
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Cartoon via Sun News Online
Senators have constituted a committee to amend the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act 2004 because of their concerns that President Olusegun Obasanjo abuses it. They declared on Tuesday that he has no constitutional right to fiddle with the list of indicted politicians compiled by the EFCC, the result of which is the addition and omission of names. Senate President, Ken Nnamani, addressed his colleagues on the matter, and slammed Obasanjo for pocketing the agency and tampering with its work. He reiterated that it is an abuse of power for him to compel the EFCC to submit its report to Aso Rock, because, going by the EFCC Act, it should not report to Obasanjo.
Via Odili.net
Mimiko and the Labour Party option, Soji-Eze Fagbemi, Nigerian Tribune
“It is very obvious that the entrance of Mimiko, who voluntarily resigned his ministerial position to join the gubernatorial race in Ondo State under the Labour Party, has become a serious threat to the PDP and Governor Agagu. As another analyst said, Labour Party is only grounded and known in Ondo State. There is no doubt that Labour Party and Mimiko have jointly become a nightmare to the PDP and Agagu. Hence, observers believe the president deliberately used that statement to smear and rubbish Mimiko and his party in order to help the aspiration of the PDP and Agagu.” Photo: Nigerian Tribune.
Read full text on Nigerian Tribune
When Mimiko, a grassroots politician and the former Housing Minister under President Obasanjo, declared his intention to run for office early December last year, and after he moved from the deep-pocketed Nigerian ruling party (the PDP), and aligned with, and got adopted, by the Labor Party, a formerly obscure political party, a move one would have deemed suicidal; his stock sudden skyrocketed, and has been rising in a linear progression since then. This is an unprecedented occurrence in the political story of Ondo State and perhaps in Nigeria. Why so?
Read more on Grandiose Parlor
“The easiest way for a father or mother to earn the pejorative sobriquet “agbaiya” is for him or her to join the fray in support of his own child. What President Obasanjo did in Ondo State, especially his utterances with regard to Dr Mimiko, is not only an abomination universally, it is a radical departure from the tradition of our fathers. In fact, the president unilaterally took off his babariga and got into the fight throwing blows below the belt and re- christening himself in the process…By refusing to get into the gutter on Obasanjo’s invitation, Mimiko has left the president wallowing in the muck all alone. What the president did in Ondo is unworthy of a father of the people. I wish I could vote in Ondo State.”
- Dele Sobowale, Nigerian Vanguard
“As for the voters of Ondo State, I think they would be crazy to let Obasanjo choose for them who their next Governor must be. The Governor we need is a proven administrator with a track record of honesty and purposeful leadership who could harness Ondo State’s limitless resources and put them to good use for the benefit of the great majority of our people and not for their own selfish interest. Ondo State has only seen the tip of the iceberg in the kind of damage that Agagu and his Government has done to our state. If the election would ever take place, Ondo State must not take chances and return the current occupants of their Government House at Oke Eda…If Mimiko was good enough to be appointed a Federal Minster by Obasanjo, he is surely good enough to be our next Governor by acclamation… Let us put Obasanjo to shame on this just like Shagari was put to shame in 1983. We have done it before, and can do it again. Long live Mimiko and long live Ondo State. On to victory in 2007.”
Obasanjo’s Hypocrisy, A Cover-Up For Pen Robbers In Our Country
by Dr. Wunmi Akintide, via Gamji.com