Ondo Guber Crisis: Mimiko Meets President Buhari, Warns of Trouble

Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State yesterday rushed to Aso Rock to alert President Muhammadu Buhari of the “potential danger” caused by the Independent Na­tional Electoral Commission (INEC)’s recognition of Jimoh Ibrahim as the state’s gover­norship candidate of the Peo­ples Democratic Party (PDP).
Mimiko, who is also of the PDP, said he was shocked by INEC’s action which could not be backed by logic, law or pol­itics since the primary election that produced Ibrahim, a busi­ness mogul, held outside Ondo state and was not monitored by the electoral umpire or security agencies, and was restrained by a court order.

With street protests all over Ondo State capital already against INEC and Ibrahim, the governor told journalists that he had to meet with Buhari be­cause “this kind of action can cause a breach of the peace. We see this action of INEC as po­tentially dangerous.”
Mimiko, who wondered how INEC would ignore two valid restraining orders against recognising Ibrahim, against his preferred candidate, Eyi­tayo Jegede, said the president promised to look into the sit­uation and correct any injus­tice that might have been per­petrated.
According to him: “This action potentially can cause a breach of peace. In Ondo State in the last seven and half years, we have done everything possi­ble to put good governance on the table.
“We see this action as po­tentially dangerous. It can cause conflagration in the state and that is why as the chief security officer of the state, I have come to alert Mr. President of the po­tential danger of this injustice so that we can nip it in the bud.
“Mr. President has prom­ised to look into it and that if there is any injustice, we should rest assured that it will be rec­tified.”
The governor said he had been making strenuous efforts to calm the protesters in Ondo as a result of the development, but insisted that the people of the state would definitely pro­test the injustice.
”The whole day, from 5am, I have been on phone with stakeholders to ensure they keep the peace in the state. The extent of the protest you have seen has been reduced by our intervention to ensure that there is no breach of peace.
“For the people of the state, it is just from the blues. I have assured them that this injustice will not stay. We will continue to explore all avenues to make INEC see reasons why this im­punity must not stand”, he stat­ed.
“I am shocked. In logic, in law, in politics, there is no ba­sis for it whatsoever” declared Mimiko as he went ahead to ex­plain in more details how the development unfolded.
His words: “The Jimoh Ibrahim factor in all of this is predicated on a court order giv­en by Justice Abang. Incidental­ly, that court order is about zon­al and state executives of PDP. That order is about 2019 elec­tion. Neither Jimoh Ibrahim nor Eyitayo Jegede were par­ties to the suit.
“The name of Ibrahim was sent to INEC after a primary election which was conducted in Ibadan without INEC moni­toring it, without security agen­cies, SSS or police.
“When the name got to INEC and this Abang judge­ment was attached, INEC took the right decision initially by making it clear that to start with; it is not state or zonal ex­ecutive that is empowered by the electoral act to conduct the election.
“Number two, the Abang judgement on the basis of which they were putting pres­sure on INEC to accept Jimoh Ibrahim as a candidate was re­ferring to 2019 election.
“There is nothing about 2016 election in that judge­ment. So, on the basis of this, ab initio, INEC refused and dis­countenanced the name of Ji­moh Ibrahim as a candidate.
“Then they went ahead and filed Form 48 and from the blues, the same Justice Abang mandated INEC to replace the name of Eyitayo Jegede who emerged through a primary process that was supervised by INEC, security agencies on live television with all delegates that were supposed to participate.
“Then Abang ordered that Jimoh Ibrahim should replace Eyitayo Jegede. Ordinarily, we should have disregarded the or­der because like I said, Jegede was not a party to the suit, nei­ther was Jimoh Ibrahim.
“But we were also advised that it was very important for us to appeal so that if anybody is up to a mischief, we would have taken the plank off the personm
“Immediately, we appealed. That notice of appeal, especial­ly when we had filed in our pa­pers, submitted our briefs and gotten date, should serve as a stay of execution.
“We didn’t want to take chances because somebody in INEC told us that they obey the last order in the Commis­sion. So, we went to court and obtained two different orders mandating INEC not to sub­stitute Eyitayo Jegede.
“We served one on INEC around 10 am yesterday, and we served INEC with the other one at the close of business around 3 pm; only around 7 or 8 pm, we got to know that INEC for no justifiable reason had substitut­ed the name of Jegede and re­placed it with that of Ibrahim.
“The question to ask is on whose order has INEC done that? Apart from the fact that we have two restraining orders on INEC, it knows fully well that Jimoh Ibrahim’s primary was in Ibadan (Oyo State).
“There was no report by any security agencies that the security situation in Ondo state warranted the movement of the primaries to Ibadan or anywhere outside the state for that matter. Under INEC guide­lines, the time for substitution of candidates has even elapsed.”
Asked if he still had any confidence in the electoral body to conduct credible elec­tion in Ondo State, Mimiko wondered how that could be “if INEC finds it difficult to obey court order”, afterall “a credi­ble election starts with a pro­cess like this”.


 Street protests rock Akure (photos)