The Governorship candidate of Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) in the November 16 gubernatorial election in Ondo State, Dr Abbas Mimiko, has ruled out the rotation of governorship seats among the three senatorial districts in the state.
Abbas, a younger brother of the former governor of the state, Dr Olusegun Mimiko said the fact that his elder brother has just finished his tenure of eight years should not prevent him from aspiring to be governor because he has what it takes to turn around the fortune of the state if allowed to govern the state.
Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Dr Mimiko said he would not have bordered to run as governor if the system had been efficient and the people of the state were happy with the government.
He said, “It is not time to think in terms of rotation. Maybe when we have the luxury of success in the future, we can come to that. As of now, if we have the luxury of success in the future, maybe we can come to that.
“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 am not using Lagos as a prototype of goodness, but for example, in 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. We must have a leader that can use what we have to get what we want.
“That is why I said, 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, 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 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, 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 am 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 is not constitutional. Yes, we can put it into law. But we can have a proper agreement within the state that from now on, it is no more a gentleman’s agreement.”
Abbass Mimiko also said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would not manipulate the forthcoming election in favour of his All Progressives Congress (APC) just as he accused the state government of stockpiling money to buy votes in the off-circle election.
His words “First of all, let me make one thing clear. The masses of Ondo, I want them to hear us loud and clear. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not coming to rig elections for APC.
“Don’t let anybody deceive you because we are the government in power; therefore, automatically, the president will come and impose you on us.
“The president wants his country to run and run successfully. And he has taken some very bold steps. Unfortunately, we have states like Ondo that are not seizing the momentum.
“Look, they are saying they have canceled the subsidy. Didn’t they increase allocation? Was Ondo State receiving 10 billion before the cancellation of the subsidy? What have they done with the double allocation they’re receiving? They are just giving the president a bad name.
