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| Mimiko's politics of intolerance.....By Ojo Oyewamide |
Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State is one politician who seems to cherish his freedom of association and freely exercises it. In his quest for political power, he has traversed three political parties since the country returned to democracy in 1999.
Mimiko was a pioneer member of the comatose Alliance for Democracy (AD), and he served as a commissioner in the government of the late Adebayo Adefarati. While he superintended over the state's Ministry of Health, he was eying the seat of his boss. That was why the medic-turned-politician contested the governorship ticket of the AD with Adefarati in 2003, but failed to clinch it, prompting him to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
After the candidate of the PDP, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, won the 2003 governorship election, Mimiko was appointed the Secretary to the state government (SSG) and later appointed the Minister of Land and Housing by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Some still argue that without Mimiko's influence, the PDP would have still conveniently coasted home to victory in the 2003 general election in Ondo state, since the people of the state had already become disenchanted with the AD government and seen the PDP as the viable alternative.
While former governor Agagu and other members of his team were busy with governence, Mimiko, his SSG, was surreptitiously building formidable political machinery which he later deployed to wrestle power from his boss. Realizing the impossibility of securing the governorship nomination of the PDP in 2006, Mimiko defected again to the Labour Party (LP) to realize his ambition.
Critics say his brand of politics is slippery and promiscuous, as the rumour of his planned return to the (PDP) continues to spread. But loyalists of the Ondo-born politician see his politics differently. Eni Akinsola, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Governor once rationalized the penchant of Mimiko for shifting political camps by saying it stemmed from the governor's burning desire to acquire power in order to touch lives.
“One truth ought to be restated, Olusegun Mimiko has never hidden his ambition to acquire power for the purpose of reflecting lives. In fact, he has repeatedly said that the driving force behind his involvement in partisan politics is the desire to positively affect the greatest number of people. His political odyssey therefore is replete with daring political movements directed at actualizing this goal. Far from being selfish, parochial, shifty or promiscuous in principle, he has placed his passion for the people higher in all considerations,” Akinsola said.
However, this is an opinion not shared by many in the sunshine state. The argument is that one does not need to be governor before having the opportunity to serve humanity or touch the greatest number of lives and that political opportunism and inordinate ambition account for what Akinsola described as Mimiko's “daring political movements”.
While unprincipled politics is morally wrong, nevertheless, it cannot be denied that Mimiko has the constitutional right to change political camps the way he feels. But he has never been harassed for exercising this right.
In the last few months, there have been complaints of Mimiko's intolerance of people exercising their freedom of association and speech, most especially by former LP members who have defected to other parties. A couple of days back, former LP chairman in Ondo state, Dr. Olaiya Oni, cried out that there was a plot by the Mimiko-led government to arrest him for buying a party's vehicle.
Oni alleged that the government used some policemen and suspected LP thugs to invade his house to retrieve a bus he had bought before his resignation, after accusing him of stealing the bus when he was the chairman.
In an open letter to Governor Mimiko written in reaction to the alleged invasion of his house, Oni wrote: “On Wednesday, October 12, at about 4.00pm, I found a team of police personnel who unceremoniously entered my factory premises on Ilesha Road Industrial Estate along with two of your aides- Mr. S.O Olawale and Tunde Alade alias “Class” including two cameral men, claiming that they had come to recover a bus stolen by me when I was chairman of LP. They were also accompanied by five political thugs from the LP secretariat.
“I showed the police officers who led them in the presence of your two aides mentioned above the bank teller of First Bank Plc with No: 40556922 dated 12/8/2011 with the LP's receipt No: 0152 dated 16/8/2011 to show that I purchased the six-year old bus as a scrap having been abandoned in Ondo town since May 2010 when it lost its engine brain and gear box, tyres and clutches discs on motion.
“Indeed, your office felt it was too expensive to fix when we made a demand on you in May 2010, more so as I spent N1.5m fixing the bus which I bought for N200, 000 to show you its state. And Governor's office sold many of such vehicles the same way.”
Other people have also accused the government of harassment and intimidation. Raising the alarm over an alleged threat to his life recently was a former LP member of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Hon. Kunle Odidi. The ex-lawmaker, who has now defected from the LP to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), alleged that some attackers invaded his residence in Ondo town, harassing his wife and children.
Odidi, who was not at home during the alleged invasion, said: “They ransacked my house and my wife and children were humiliated. Later my wife called me and gave the phone to one of them. I pleaded with the man on the phone that I was the one they were after and not my family. He later told me that my attention was needed at the office of the clerk of the Ondo State House of Assembly.
“I went to the office of the clerk who told me he was not aware of the invitation. Thereafter, they told me I was under arrest but, instead of taking me to the police station, they drove me to the office of the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the Governor where I was beaten.”
The CPS to Governor Mimiko, Eni Akinsola, denied the allegation of maltreatment, adding that Odidi had become a nuisance since his exit from the State House of Assembly on May 29, 2011. Akinsola said several months after Odidi left the Office; he had not submitted all relevant properties and cars with him like other ex-lawmakers. But many wondered why the government waited until the lawmaker defected to another party before the need to recover certain documents and properties from Odidi occurred to it and why it had to do that in a manner that suggested harassment and intimidation.
like other ex-lawmakers. But many wondered why the government waited until the lawmaker defected to another party before the need to recover certain documents and properties from Odidi occurred to it and why it had to do that in a manner that suggested harassment and intimidation.
The government has also been accused of making spirited attempts at stiffening opposing views. It was said to have influenced the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to stop Oja-Oro, a popular Yoruba programme on a private radio, Adaba F.M. But the attempt to yank off air Sunshine Liberation Hour, another programme critical of the government, failed.
The zonal office of the Commission in Benin, Edo state, allegedly at the prompting of the state government, had issued a query to the management of Adaba radio, asking it to explain why it continued to violate the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code. In the query dated August 11, 2011 and signed by the Zonal Director, Isaac O Ogor, the Commission described the Sunshine Liberation Hour as “divisive, discriminatory, inciting, full of hate and in bad faith.”
The radio station was ordered to rest the programme because, according to the Commission, it “is antagonistic in concept and structure and in breach of several provision of the Code”. Protests by the Sunshine Liberation Forum (SLF), the sponsor of the programme, and some prominent Ondo state indigenes ensured that the National Headquarters of the Commission reversed the order of the zonal office, having satisfied that the programme does not offend any provisions of the code.
The Mimiko government was reported to have threatened the private radio station several times because it allows opposition politicians to air their views about the government. Ironically, it was the radio station that Mimiko deployed to mobilize public opinion against the immediate past Agagu government before he eventually became the governor of the state.
The emerging political intolerance in Ondo state has been attributed to the coming governorship election which is likely to take place late next year. Although it is several months away, but tension is already building up in the state. Many are not comfortable about the coming election because of the likelihood of an outbreak of violence.
Indeed many analysts have predicted a very competitive election. To start with, the PDP has just climbed out of a seemingly intractable crisis with renewed strength. Its dismal performance in the last general election could be traced to the internal wrangling that bedeviled the party. Some leaders of the PDP in Ondo openly worked against its candidates. But with the return of peace, the party is poised to wrestle the Alagbaka Government House from the LP.
Another reason relates to the rising profile of the ACN in Ondo state since it has been led by Mrs. Jumoke Anifowose, daughter of the late Adekunle Ajasin. Pundits have predicted that the party is not going to be a pushover in future elections in the state and that ACN is likely to take a considerable number of votes in the coming governorship election.
The LP will want to cling to the Alagbaka Government House by deploying power of incumbency, more so that the party and its government are declining in popularity. The LP government has come under severe criticisms in recent times on charges of non-performance, failed promises, wastefulness and frivolous projects.
Ondo is a volatile state with an unenviable history of electoral violence. The people of the state are also known for their spirit of resistance. It will therefore be foolhardy for any politician to want to impose his will on the people in the next governorship election.
Culled from National Mirror |
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