Mimiko
Some members of the Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has raised the alarm over an impending breakdown of law and order in the state following alleged disobedience of three court orders by Governor Olusegun Mimiko.
The members, about 38 in number, therefore called on security agencies in the state to be on the red alert because “not even President Goodluck Jonathan can guarantee peace when violence erupts.”
Leader of the group, Dr. Olu Agunloye and Secretary, Mr. Femi Adekanbi, after an emergency meeting held in Abuja, told journalists that the continuous “blatant flouting of court orders” on the festering political crisis in the state was capable of degenerating into chaos.
Agunloye, a former Minister of Defence said that despite court pronouncements that the status quo be maintained concerning the issue of who represents Ondo in the state House of Assembly and the National Assembly, Mimiko had gone ahead to introduce candidates from his camp as the authentic PDP candidates for the state.
He accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of aiding the governor’s alleged disregard for court processes by publishing the names of his candidates on its website, an act he described as “utterly despicable.”
According to Agunloye, it was shameful that a governor who rode on the back of the rule of law to get into power could be turning his back against court judgements.
He said: “We are representing all the PDP candidates in Ondo State. While the Chief Justice of Nigeria has pleaded that the judiciary should not derail the democracy and should never take bribes, the Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, is working against peace by disobeying a court order.”
However, the Chief Press Secretary to Mimiko, Mr. Eni Akindola, while reacting to the allegation, said the governor had no hand in the imposition of candidates.
He said, “Was the governor mentioned in any of the cases? He was never a party to the case. It is not the duty of the governor to present candidates for election. It is the party structure that determines. They were in court; has the court vindicated them? They should wait for the court to decide. You use persuasive method to negotiate.”
Comments