Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun
Mimiko, on Friday met behind closed doors with President Muhammadu
Buhari over the political development in the state that saw the
Independent National Electoral Commission recognising Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim
as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the forthcoming
governorship election.
He later told State House correspondents
that he decided to visit the Presidential Villa, Abuja to intimate the
President of the imminent danger in the decision which he described as
injustice to the people of the state.
The governor admitted that he was shocked because the development had no basis in law or politics.
“I am shocked. In logic, in law, in politics, there is no basis for this decision whatsoever.,” the governor said.
He explained that the court order upon
which the INEC based its decision was about zonal and state executives
of the PDP and was not about the 2016 election.
While saying that Ibrahim and Eyitayo
Jegede were not parties to the suit, the governor said the INEC
initially took the right decision by making it clear that it was not
state or zonal executive that was empowered by the Electoral Act to
conduct election.
He said while the INEC and security
agencies monitored the party’s primary elections that produced Jegede in
Akure, Ibrahim decided to hold his primary in Ibadan, the Oyo State
capital when there was no threat to peace in Akure.
Mimiko said his camp would have
disregarded the Justice Okon Abang’s judgement that ordered INEC to
recognise Ibrahim but for an information given to him that the
commission would only act on the last order on the matter.
Based on this, he said his camp appealed
the judgement, saying the notice of appeal should naturally have served
as a stay of execution.
He said they therefore approached the court and got two orders mandating INEC not to replace Jegede’s name.
According to him, while one of the
judgements was served on the commission at about 10am on Thursday, the
other was served at about 3pm.
He added, “Only around 7 or 8 pm (on
Thursday), we got to know that INEC for no justifiable reason had
substituted the name of Jegede and replaced it with that of Ibrahim.
“The question to ask is on whose order has INEC done that?
“Apart from the fact that we have two
restraining orders on INEC, the commission knows fully well that Jimoh
Ibrahim’s primaries was in Ibadan.
“There was no report by security
agencies that the security situation in Ondo State warranted the
movement of the primaries to Ibadan or anywhere outside the state for
that matter.
“Under inec guidelines, the time for substitution of candidates has even elapsed.”
Mimiko said he decided to meet Buhari to inform him that the INEC’s decision had the potential of setting the state on fire.
He said, “This action potentially can
cause a breach of peace. In Ondo State in the last seven and half years,
we have done everything possible to put good governance on the table
and promote peace.
“We see this action as potentially
dangerous. It can cause conflagration in the state and that is why as
the Chief Security Officer of the state, I have come to alert Mr.
President of the potential danger of this injustice so that we can nip
it in the bud.”
He said Buhari had assured him that he
would look into the issue with a view to ensuring that where there is
injustice, it would be rectified.
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