‘I Do Not Need My Brother’s Endorsement’ – Ondo Guber Candidate, Mimiko Declares

The governorship candidate representing the Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) in the upcoming election in Ondo State, Abbas Mimiko, has declared that he does not require the endorsement of his elder brother, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, to secure the position of governor.

Naija News reports that Mimiko made this declaration on Thursday while speaking at the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Akure, the state capital.

Mimiko expressed his belief that the state is not yet prepared for a rotational governorship system, emphasizing that his brother’s tenure as governor would pale in comparison to the administration he intends to establish if he emerges victorious in the governorship election scheduled for November 16th.

Recall that Olusegun Mimiko served as the Governor for Ondo State from 2009 to 2017.

However, his younger brother, who is now aspiring for the same position in the state, said: “I don’t want him to give me any endorsement. What I need is the people, the endorsement of the masses, and the people of Ondo State. I won’t vote for somebody whose brother is raising his hand saying ‘I became governor, come and vote for my brother!’ No.”

The ZLP candidate, who further said he would personally vote and campaign against such a person, stressed that “I want to be governor so that I can showcase the plans I have. Iroko’s administration will be child’s play with what we have on the ground for Ondo.

“If the brother is capable, he should present his credentials so that we can assess him as an individual. His brother has run an administration; we can then add one extra mark, because the brother did well, believing that perhaps he will do well too.

“So, I don’t want to be referenced. You can reference me as part of the success of the ‘Iroko’ phenomenon because we planned many of those good programmes together, but I can’t claim those programmes. I was not the governor; I want to be governor so that I can showcase my plans. Iroko’s administration will be a child play with what we have on the ground for Ondo.”

Speaking in the rotation of the governorship seat between the state’s three senatorial districts, Mimiko insisted that the state must have a leader who can use “what we have to get what we want.”

“If everything was running smoothly, it would be an embarrassment. I felt embarrassed the first time I said I wanted to run for governor.

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

“On day three, we went to discharge her. We were in the car, I was celebrating, and I was dancing in 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 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 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 rotate the 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,” the politician stressed.