Opinion: Mimiko | caught off guard

by Anthony Ademiluyi

In 2003, the wily former President Olusegun Obasanjo was tired of being reminded by the hawks in the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that he had no political base. He caught the awkward look of the Emperor who wore no clothes since he owed his 1999 electoral victory to the Kaduna mafia.

He struck a deal with the South West Governors that they should all back his second term bid and in return he would reciprocate their support by ensuring they all returned victorious at the polls. He played the tribal card and urged them to look beyond party lines to give him his full support since they were all Yorubas.

The gimmick worked as five states with the exception of Lagos fell for the antics of the retired generals who made a mess of the thinking faculties of veteran politicians and erstwhile pro-democracy activists. The Balogun of Owu had a field day laughing at the grand folly of the vanquished.

The victory in Ondo State was not solely aided by Obasanjo’s craftiness. The political astuteness of Dr. Rahman Olusegun Mimiko popularly known as Iroko came to bear on the Sunshine State. The late Dr. Olusegun Agagu indicated his interest to run against the late Chief Adebayo Adefarasin who had earlier defeated him in the 1999 elections. It was going to be an uphill task to dislodge Agagu as Adefarasin was a staunch Awoist with the name of Awolowo used as a trump card by the then Alliance for Democracy to sweep the entire south west. The fact that Agagu was aviation minister under Obasanjo who was still a very much hated man as he didn’t throw his weight behind the candidacy of the presumed winner of the June 12 Presidential elections, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola greatly dampened his popularity.

Mimiko came in very handy and was the unseen fulcrum on which the Agagu campaign was launched. In the end, Adefarasin was forced to vacate lock, stock and barrel in one of the most shocking defeats in the hitherto progressive state. Let us not forget that in 1983, Micheal Adekunle Ajasin was defeated by his former deputy, Michael Akin Omoboriowo. The defeat led to a mass protest by the people and the Inspector-General of Police at the time, Sunday Adewusi was forced to hurriedly ferry Omoboriowo out of the state to Lagos to halt the violence that engulfed there. The acceptance of the victory of a conservative government two decades later was a testimony of the wizardry of Mimiko.

Agagu in compensation not only made him the Secretary to the State Government but also nominated him to Obasanjo’s cabinet to replace Mrs. Mobolaji Osomo who was sacked for alleged corrupt practices. In 2007, Iroko showed that the treacherous game of politics was fuelled strictly by interests and turned against his former boss by contesting against him. He lost and took his case to the Elections Petitions Tribunal. To the amazement of all, Iroko emerged victorious in 2009. What baffled many pundits was the fact that he contested on the platform of the Labour party which showed his invincibility.

He went on to rule the state like a fiefdom with a coterie of praise singers and boot lickers eternally fawning over his every whim.

There were subtle overtures made for him to join the former Action Congress of Nigeria but he chose to maintain his ‘independence’ by being the lone wolf in the wilderness by sticking to his membership of the Labour party. In the end, he made a volte-face by joining the Peoples Democratic Party in the run up to the 2015 general elections.

His invincibility suffered the first blow when he failed to deliver the stat to the PDP. The second blow came with the clinching of the PDP ticket for the 2016 elections by Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim fondly known as Araba. Iroko’s anointed candidate was Eyitayo Jegede SAN who won the election under the Senator Ahmed Makarfi led faction. Ibrahim won under the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff faction which is widely believed to be the weaker of the two. We recall that the PDP gubernatorial aspirant for Edo State in the last elections held there, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu won that of the Makarfi faction.

Ibrahim sold himself to the Nigerian public as a turn around business expert after he lost the 2003 gubernatorial elections in Ondo State to the superior machinery of Iroko’s wits. He was quoted to have said that he was so downcast that he thought of packing his bags and heading for Uncle Sam to lobby for a teaching position before Cecilia Ibru of the defunct Oceanic bank pleaded with him to remain in the country and supported his business ideas with a trunk load of funds. His critics dismissed him as an undertaker because of the way and manner he ran his businesses in the aviation, energy and publishing sectors. His obtaining of the PDP ticket can best be described as a case study of a political hostile takeover.

Ibrahim is a man that seems to win his battles. We recall how he won the control of Nicon Insurance and News watch after a protracted court battle.

Mimiko must have been so dazed that he recently ran to have an emergency meeting with Buhari in a similar way a school boy runs to a tutor to avoid the scars of being bullied. He is still shocked at his impending annihilation by this mere political upstart.

The brash Ibrahim boasted that Mimiko was a gargantuan liability as he owed five months salaries of the state civil servants and could not account for billions of naira that came from the federation account and that he represented a breath of fresh air. One wonders if this is some sort of caustic irony as Ibrahim is also notorious for owing his workers in virtually all his companies. Perhaps he made the statement banking on the collective amnesia of the electorate which is a sore point of our ‘nascent’ democracy.

Mimiko described the current reality as a huge joke. The last time I checked, Ibrahim’s resume never showed any record of being a stand-up comedian. The same ruthless approach he has used in business has been surreptitiously transferred to the cloak and dagger game of politics.

With the elections a few weeks ago, is Iroko’s time finally up?


Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

 

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