His emergence as governor of Ondo State was expected. GovernorRahman Olusegun Mimiko is a man loaded with experience, andhe has, through his sterling performances, proven to be the people's governor. He identifies the urgent needs of his people and tackles them with vision. Mimiko's actions and comments since his assumption of office has demonstrated, in a practical way, that he wants the weak and the strong, the poor and the rich, to have equal access to the dividends of good governance. Being a lone ranger, he has fortified his courage, embarking on people-oriented projects that have a direct bearing on the lives of the people of the state.Among those laudable projects is The Mother and Child Hospital, which has become a model in the country. It is a place, where both the rich and the poor get equal attention. Currently, each of the hospitals is said to record an average of 25 deliveries daily. Though mainly for pregnant women and children under the age of five, it has, so far, treated 31,000 patents and safely delivered 9,819 babies. And it is free, made modestly for safe delivery, equipped with modern facilities, and run by experienced and well-trained medical personnel. It has impacted positively on the lives of the masses.Interestingly, the Abiye health care programme has just been adopted by the World Bank. Ondo State's 'Abiye Safe Motherhood Programme' has been officially listed on its website as one of the effective health programmes in Africa, specifically for its salutory impact in reducing infant and maternal mortality in line with the objectives of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5.The upgrading of public schools to model institutions equipped with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities is another positive news from Ondo State. Dr Mimiko says that his government is using the Mega School Project in the state to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor in the society, as a new form of social engineering. The new ultra-modern Isikan market is also a fantastic masterpiece. Youth empowerment has been given top priority by Mimiko's administration; as thousands of graduates have been employed through his modern agriculture programme. It has become a public knowledge in Ondo State that the Iroko-led administration has succeeded in giving the poor the confidence to co-exist with the rich without exhibiting any trait of inferiority.These achievements, scattered all over Ondo State, have been commended by the people who believed that the man has done enough to take another shot in office to promote continuity. The Labour Party (LP), through Mimiko, has been able to prove to the people of the state that it is effectively in charge. No wonder, many have said that the landslide victory recorded by the party in the last April general election was well-deserved.But who will save Mimiko, the performer and reformer, from the ambush laid by the self-acclaimed god of Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), ''progressive'' propagandists, who have allegedly promised to destabilise Mimiko's political structure in Ondo in the 2013 gubernatorial election' Governor Mimiko has been tagged an ingrate and a non-performer by these political baboons, because he has rebuffed all attempts to force him into the small-minded regional integration of the self-proclaimed progressives.Iroko's achievements are attention-grabbing, intimidating and outstanding; Tinubu's headache is not about Mimiko's performance, but his lack of ability to control Ondo State politics, as he is currently doing to his sole administrators in other South-West states, with his overbearing influence in their affairs.Interestingly, Mimiko has refused to betray the Labour Party (LP) that brought him to power, and any right-thinking person, who can read the handwritting on the wall, will be able to tell the so-called progressives that they need not waste their time fighting Mimiko, as the Ondo State people are not in a hurry for a reactionary change.However, it will be a 21st century miracle for the ACN to make an appreciable impact in the 2013 gubernatorial election. The recent gang-up which has seen some loyalists of Mimiko's government defecting to other parties is nothing but a product of ignorance. Mimiko needs not panic, as one with the Almighty God is a majority. Tinubu and his comrades will soon fall because they are fighting a lost battle. Those that attempted it in Genesis 11:1-9 were confused and scattered. The Egyptian-minded fake progressives who are boasting, are not God, but mere mortals; as only God is able. They should read how Pharaoh and his comrades threatened the Israelites and met their tragic end in the Red Sea.Olatunde is on the staff of the Nigerian Tribune.
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