Know Your Governors: See The Profile Of Gov. Segun Mimiko Of Ondo State

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Olusegun Mimiko was born 3 October 1954 is the current governor of Ondo State, Nigeria.

He is a native of Ondo Kingdom in Ondo State. 

Dr. Olusegun Mimiko is a medical doctor by profession.  As a politician, he has held many political offices such as Commissioner for Health-- this he held for many years under different dispensations, Secretary to the state government (SSG), Minister of works, among others. 

Mimiko competed in gubernatorial elections on April 14, 2007, against the incumbent Olusegun Agagu and lost the contest in April 2007 according to the result released by the Independent Electoral Commission INEC. 

Mimiko contested this decision at the election tribunal and Agagu lost office on February 23, 2009 following an Appeal Court ruling which cited irregularities in the 2007 election, and was replaced by Mimiko as governor. 

Mimiko is currently the first and only member of the Labour Partyto win gubernatorial office in Nigeria.

Governor Olusegun Mimiko was said to have won the election on October 20, 2012 enabling him to continue in office for a second term making him the first Governor in Ondo State to win a second term election.

Mimiko's victory is now being contested by the candidate of the ACN - Rotimi Akeredolu, the candidate of the PDP - Olusola Oke and the candidate of the CPC - Olusoji Ehinlanwo in October 2012, 

Mimiko stood as the Labour Party candidate for Nigeria’sOndo Stateand polled the highest votes in the elections. 

The Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko on Thursday October 2, 2014 officially decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the Labour Party. 

He and his supporters were received back to the fold by the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, Senate President, David Mark, Deputy National Chairman,Uche Secondusand top party men at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.

On October 2nd he officially left the labour party for peoples democratic party. 

He is happily married to Olukemi Mimiko with lovely kids. 

Early Life  and  Background 

Dr. Olusegun Mimiko is the 5th Executive Governor of Ondo State. Born 3rd October 1954 to Pa and Mrs. Atiku Bamidele Mimiko of Ondo Kingdom in Ondo State, his mother hails from the prominent Ogunsulie family. 

While his great, great grandfather was High Chief Adaja Gbegbaje of Ondo, and his great grandfather, Chief Akinmeji, was Ruwase of Ondo. 

His father was an accomplished businessman of his time. It’s then not surprising that he ensured all his children were all educated in good schools across the country. 

As a young boy, he had a doting father, and his mother remains very caring. Though not born into opulence, he grew up in an environment that was suffused in love and care.

Olusegun Mimiko was admitted to St. Joseph’s College,Ondo in 1966 where he graduated in 1970 with the West African School Certificate. 

His graduation from this prestigious school helped shaped his life. Between 1971 and 1972, he was a Higher School Certificate (HSC) student at Gboluji Grammar School, Ile-Oluji before he gained admission to the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife in 1972 to study Medicine. 

He chose Medicine because his father believed that if you didn’t study science, you were dumb. It’s as a result of this, his eldest sister Alhaja Hafsat Oyeneyin read Pharmacy. 

In 1976, ‘Olusegun Mimiko bagged a B.Sc. Health Sciences Degree, and the MBChB in 1980, and he is appropriately registered with the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council as a Medical Practitioner.

As a medical doctor, he worked in the private and public sectors. Between 1980 and 1981, he was a House Officer with the Ondo State Health Management Board under which auspices he worked at the General (now State Specialist) Hospital, Ado-Ekiti. 

He had a stint with the Nigerian Naval College (NNS Onura), Onne, Port Harcourt, between 1981 and 1982, from where he returned to join the services of the Ondo StateHealth Management Board as Medical Officer in the General (now State Specialist) Hospital, Ondo, in 1982.

From late-1983 to 1984, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko had his initial taste of private medical practice by working at different times as a Medical Officer at Apagun Clinic, Yaba, Lagos; and as Acting Medical Director, Alleluyah Hospital, Oshodi, Lagos. 

He returned to public service for another year between April 1984 and February 1985(again with the Ondo State Health Management Board) before finally going into full private medical practice with the setting up of the Mona Mediclinic with headquarters in Ondo Town, Ondo State. 

During his private practice, people trooped to his hospital for treatment, and at a point, his clinic was like a charity home.

Career and Life 

His political activities date back to his undergraduate days as a medical student at the then University of Ife, in the late 1970s and early 1980.

People knew him more with symposia and student union activism while he was in university. His last two years in the university, in particular, were filled with activism. 

So powerful was he that he made a Student Union President in his room at Ife then. He was the one who packaged Wole Olaoye to become president of the student union as he(Mimiko) was his campaign manager. 

So, he came from that tradition of activism and he was able to blend it with Medicine.Olusegun Mimiko was at various times a member of the Students’ Representatives Council (Parliament), 1975/76, and chairman of its Special Honours Committee. 

For a period in 1976, he was elected chairman of the council. Outside the union legislative house, he served on the University of Ife students’ union electoral commission, 1976/77. 

He was the public relations official of the International Students’ Association of the university between 1977 and 1978.

After graduation Dr. Olusegun Mimiko moved up from astudent union activist to find political expression and identity in the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. 

After his return from the National Youth Service scheme, he took up membership of the party. As a budding politician, he served as the publicity secretary of the Ondo local government chapter of the UPN in 1983. 

The internal crises which be-devilled the UPN and the politics of the era dragged on to the 1983 general elections. 

This could not stop Dr. Mimiko and douse his in-born passion for social change. This cohered with the concern of 3 budding intellectuals ensconced in two Nigeria universities; themselves accomplished individuals today, Professor Femi Mimiko, Dr. Rotimi Adelola (Ondo State’s current Secretary to the State Government) and Engr. Wole Akinjo, on the need for some form of intervention and departure from this growing tendency at demonizing politics. 

They vigorously engaged with the idea of getting concerned elements to continually brainstorm on ways to improve on the politics and governance in the Nigerian society.Late in 1987, this idea led to the emergence of the Ondo Study Group (OSG) over which he presided. 

After an extensive review of its political mobilization effort in 1988, the OSG General Assembly enjoined full participation of its member in politics. Dr. Olusegun Mimiko took a lead on this initiative. 

He was supported by the Group to run for office as chairman of the formerOndo Local Government (now Ondo East and West LGAs) in 1990 under the aegis of the newly formed Social Democratic Party (SDP). While that early effort did not achieve its specific objective, it marked the transformation of Dr. Mimiko into a full-fledged politician. 

He was later to serve as an ex-officio member of the SDP Executive Council in Ondo Local Government Area and as a member of the party’s Disciplinary Committee.OSG soon found rewarding relevance in the campaign organisation of Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua who was bidding for the government seat on Ondo State under the SDP. 

Before long, Evangelist Olumilua saw the talent in the energetic Dr. Olusegun Mimiko and appointed him the honorable health commissioner in 1992. By the time he was leaving office in late 1993 as a result o the military coup d’etat that terminated that republic, Dr. Mimiko had left his mark as a performer. 

This first tour of duty as a public official was a great opportunity for Dr. Mimiko to demonstrate the stuff of which he was made. It set the tone for a distinguished career in politics the continuation of which is his swearing-in as the fifth elected Governor of the Sunshine State.

In recognition of his extensive contribution to the victory of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the 1999 governorship election in Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko was appointed as the honorable Commissioner for Health in the state, making the second time he would hold that office. 

Before he resigned from that position on 7th November 2002, he had greatly enhanced the quality of health care delivery in the state. On 7th November 2002, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko resigned his appointment as State Commissioner for Health, ‘for strictly personal reasons’ in the conviction that he would be in a better position to facilitate increased quality of governance in Ondo State. 

In response to the call across the state to join the gubernatorial race, he formally announced his intentionto contest the governorship election on the platform of AD on Tuesday, 19th November 2002, at a press conference in Akure. 

He insisted that for Ondo State, there certainly were brighter days ahead. That was the cliche that defined his campaign organisation – the Brighter Days Network.Dr. Olusegun Mimiko later left AD over issues centred on irregularities on gubernatorial candidate. 

He then adopted the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) of those early years as a preferred platform for the continuing struggle to enthrone good governance in Ondo State. After the victory of the party in April 2003 polls, he was appointed Secretary to the State Government (SSG), a position he occupied till July 2005 when he was appointed by then president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as Minister of Housing and Urban Development. 

It was from that position he resigned on 8th December 2006 to enable him offer himself once again for higher service to Ondo State as Governorship candidate in the April 2007 election. 

This was under the auspices of the Labour Party which he formally presented to the peopleof the state at City Hall, Akure, on 14th December 2006.Over the years, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko has authored many research papers and published articles focusing on issues as wide-ranging as medicine, international relations and national socio-political developmental strategies. 

For leisure, Dr. Mimiko engages in writing and reading. Way back in 1971, the young Olusegun had won the John F. Kennedy Essay (School Level) Award, underscoring his creative capabilities. 

He is also a farmer and an environmentalist with an abiding love for flowers and plantations. He is also a lover of exquisite art works.  An administrator and record-maker per excellence, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko has won several awards in recognition of his excellent performance in public officeand communal engagement. 

Dr. Olusegun Mimiko is happily married to Mrs Olukemi Mimiko, a virtuous woman who has greatly supported her husband. Together, His Excellency Dr Olusegun Mimiko and Her Excellency Mrs Olukemi Mimiko are blessed with adorable children.

Governor Olusegun Mimiko was said to have won the election on October 20, 2012 enabling him to continue in office for a second term making him the first Governor in Ondo State to win a second term election.

Mimiko's victory was contested by the candidate of the ACN - Rotimi Akeredolu, the candidate of the PDP - Olusola Oke and the candidate of the CPC -Olusoji Ehinlanwo.

In October 2012, Mimiko stood as the Labour Party candidate for Nigeria’s Ondo State and polled the highest votes in the elections. 

The Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko on Thursday October 2, 2014 officially decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the Labour Party. He and his supporters were received back to the fold by the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, Senate President, David Mark, Deputy National Chairman, Uche Secondus and top party men at the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.

On October 2nd he officially left the labour party for peoples democratic partyIn 2015 he became the National chairman of the PDP Governor's forum After decmaping from his party Labour  Party to PDP.

Awards and Endorsements 

Mimiko Won Zik Prize for Good Governance in 2012.Got peace ambassador awards in 2015Won the National Polio Achievement Award in the Nigeria in 2015

Rumors and Scandals 

He was said to  have been involved in an adultery  scandal in 2013 with a U.K mistress, which was said to have lead to a heavy fight between him and wife.

He once was rumored to have been linked to a drug scandal in 2011 a rumor later debunked by him.

He was also rumored to have been involved in a forgery of election results which lead to him winning his first election.

Credit: Wikipedia & tin

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