The Ondo state governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, today goes out to declare his second term ambition to the people of the state. Yinka oladoyinbo, in this report, looks at the factors that may act as fillip to his ambitionAS the race towards the Alagbaka Government House of Ondo State thickens with the lifting of the ban on campaign activities by the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC), the three main political parties in the state are leaving nothing to chances to ensure that victory comes their way after the October 20 governorship election.he parties which include the ruling Labour Party (LP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) have, in the last few months, been involved in series of political activities aimed at making them the party to beat in the election. Already, the PDP and the ACN have settled for their candidates for the poll. While the immediate past legal adviser of the PDP, Chief Olusola Oke, has been chosen to lead the party to the election, a former National President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, will be the standard bearer of the ACN, leaving the ruling LP as the only one yet to officially decide on its candidate.However, before today, many groups, traditional institutions, associations, bodies, organisations, both political and non political, have been calling on the governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, to seek another term in office because of what many of them described as the unprecedented performance of the governor in the last three and half years in office. Some of the groups that have endorsed the second term bid of the Iroko of Ondo state politics include the Akoko Obas, the Ilaje Obas, the G-13, the 3G, the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and a host of others.With the declaration of the governor, history is about to be written again in the Sunshine State as another sitting governor prepares to return to the people after four years to ask for their mandate to govern them for another four years.The question on the lips of many is. what can Mimiko flaunt before the people to convince them that truly he deserves to be entrusted with another four years of their lives'To the opposition, particularly the PDP and the ACN, the state has not moved forward in the last 41 months and, therefore, a 'positive change' is what the people desire. But to the admirers of the governor all over the 18 local government areas of the state, particularly as the grass-roots level, they have never had it so good and, therefore, Mimiko is more than qualified to be the occupant of the Alagbaka Government House for another four years.For Mimiko, the road to success and entrenchment of good governance has not been easy. Upon his assumption of office on February 24, 2009, Mimiko, in his inaugural speech, promised to work for the people of the state. He pledged to implement policies and programmes that would make life more meaningful to the residents of the state. He said, 'With hard work, again, hard work, the necessary sacrifice and renewal of commitment to our individual and collective responsibilities, we shall get there. I pledge before you again today that I will provide appropriate leadership. Your struggle will be my struggle, your joy will be my joy, and your aspirations will be my aspirations. I will strive at all times to take decisions that will benefit the greatest number of our people. We will step on toes if we have to, but at all times, in all seasons, I will work for you.''Speaking about his plans for the state during his inauguration, the governor said, 'We want to build a state where no one goes to bed on empty stomach or wakes up preoccupied mainly with how to get decent meals for the day. We want household food security and agricultural products for industry. We want all of us, especially our children, pregnant women and the vulnerable, to have unfettered access to quality health care when and where they need it. We want our educational institutions to look good and functional and our children to be equipped with the type of instructions that will give them competitive edge in the national and global market place.'We surely want employment for all those who are unemployed as well as those who are underemployed. We want our market women and artisans to have access to credit, and our farmers access to inputs in adequate quantities and as at when due. We also want all citizens and residents of our dear state to be able to go about their businesses in a secure environment, unmolested by all sorts of marauders and armed robbers.'He said his 12-point agenda code named 'A CARING HEART' would be implemented to the letter in order to make the state the cynosure of all eyes after his four years in office. Now that the time is here, many believe the governor would be able to beat his chest and also face the people of the state based on his performance in office.The belief of this school of thought is that the governor has excelled in sectors like education, health, agriculture, urban renewal, infrastructural development, rural development, empowerment among others with every facet of the society benefitting from the policies and programmes of government.Speaking on the development, the Commissioner for Information in the state, Kayode Akinmade, said the governor had given leadership with good service delivery to the people of the state. He said there had been a paradigm shift from what government used to be to a new one that is capable of making the state a model for others in the country.The present administration, upon assumption of office, constructed the Mother and Child Hospital which was inaugurated during the first anniversary of the governor. It also went into partnership with a private company, Mecure, to set up the Gani Fawehinmi Diagnostic Centre in Ondo, while it also constructed another Mother and Child Hospital in Ondo with another modern trauma centre also built in Ondo to take care of accident victims. He said the health programme of the state, particularly the safe motherhood programme, known as Abiye, had been recognised across the world and accepted as a template for countries in the African region to reduce the maternal and infant mortality in those countries.In the area of education, Akinmade said government had invested in the construction of many mega schools which were conceptualized to bridge the gap between the children of the rich and the poor in the state. Apart from this, huge amount of money has also been invested in the renovation of the unity schools in the state. Another significant category of people in the society are the primary school pupils and secondary school students and they have had their own share of government's attention. Recently the state government inaugurated a free shuttle bus scheme for them with the aim of assisting the students and their parents to further make learning less stressful to the beneficiaries.The commissioner explained that government had been using agriculture to solve the problem of youth unemployment with the establishment of farm cities across the state. He listed the farm cities to include that of Ore, Auga and Epe located across the three senatorial districts of the state.To him, an important segment of the society that had been neglected by successive government is the market women. He said the governor attached importance to the contributions of the informal sector to the economic development of the state. This, he said, made the governor to remove the women from the streets and built conducive neighbourhood and regional markets that befit the women of the state.To cap it all, he said the urban renewal efforts of government had given a new face to the major towns in the state, particularly, Akure, the state capital. Both afternoon and night lives in Akure are now something to behold and interesting courtesy of the intervention of the present administration in the state.Therefore, as October 20 beckons and Mimiko mounts the rostrum to declare his intention to contest the election, it is certain that he will have many things to point to as his achievements in the first term, which to him should earn him the votes of the people the second time.One thing that the governor has going for him is the goodwill he enjoys among the masses of the state. He still appears popular among the people but this acceptance must be translated to votse if the picture of Abayomi Olusegun Mimiko will still be hung at government and corporate offices in the state as the governor by February 24, 2012.
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