Governor Olusegun Rahman Mimiko Biography,Life And News

Akinola | 10th July 2015 | African Music | No Comments

FULL NAME: Olusegu Rahman Mimiko

DATE OF BIRTH: Born 3 October 1954

OCCUPATION: Physician, Politics
Governor[2009-2017]
MARITAL STATUS: Married.

INTRODUCTION

Olusegun Mimiko is the current governor of Ondo State, Nigeria.
Dr. Olusegun 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 AppealCourt 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 Party to win gubernatorial office in Nigeria.

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 State Health 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 oAssociation of the university between 1977 and 1978.

After
graduation Dr. Olusegun Mimiko moved up from a student 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 former Ondo 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 intention to 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 people of 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 office and 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 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’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 party

In 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 2015

Won 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.