2024 Poll: Ondo Isn’t Ripe for Guber Rotation System, Candidate Mimiko Says

Fidelis David in Akure

The younger brother of a former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, and candidate of the Zenith Labour Party for the November 16 governorship election in the state, Dr. Abbas Mimiko, yesterday, said said the state isn’t ripe for the concept of governorship rotational policy.

Going by the “unwritten” zoning arrangement in the state, the people of  Ondo South Senatorial district believed that it was their turn to produce the next governor, despite political pundits’ proposition for an open competition based on competence and capacity.

However, Mimiko, who spoke during an interactive session organised by the state Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), tagged: “The Platform” said the state needed an efficient running system that was productive for the people before talking of rotation.

“We need an efficient running system that is productive for the people before talking of rotation. A place where people are already happy with their lives. 

“I’m not using Lagos as a prototype of goodness but for example, Lagos State, it doesn’t matter if they have a very good governor or not because the system has a lot of businesses and a lot of things running, almost like an automaton. 

“But in Ondo State, we have to understand one thing, we are running basically on federal allocation. It’s extremely important that we have a leader that can use what we have to get what we want. 

“That’s why I said, if everything was running smoothly, it would be an embarrassment. I personally felt embarrassed the first time I said, I want to run for governor.

“I said, why would people in Ondo State think about this? Is it a family affair? But when we took a younger sister, related to me, to mother and child hospital to deliver, she had complications, but we thank God she survived, the baby survived. 

“Day three, we went to discharge her. We were in the car, I was celebrating, I was dancing on my seat with the baby. The mother of the baby was shedding tears. After persuasion, she confided in me that four women lost their lives at the mother and child hospital within the three days she spent there.

“When I weigh my own personal embarrassment of being the brother of a former governor wanting to be a governor, versus the pain and the suffering of the people, I think my own embarrassment is nothing. 

“So, what I’m saying in essence is that, we need quality people. First and foremost, let this system run efficiently. Then if we like, we can  make rotation a law. They will say it’s not constitutional. Yes, we can put it into law. But we can have a proper agreement within the state that from now on, it’s no more a gentleman’s agreement.”