Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State on Friday called for presidential intervention in the ongoing political tension in the state, following the announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission of Jimoh Ibrahim as the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Mimiko is a member of the PDP faction that supported the emergence of a factional candidate, Eyitayo Jegede.
While the faction led by Ali Modu Sheriff produced Ibrahim, Jegede emerged as the candidate of the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction of the party to which Mimiko belongs.
Jegede was initially presented to INEC as the party’s governorship candidate, but on Thursday INEC substituted Jegede with Ibrahim for the November 26 election.
This, INEC said, was based on a court order.
The governor, however, warned that this decision of INEC may jeopardise the relative peace enjoyed in the state since 2009 and sought presidential intervention.
Mimiko, in his call after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, said this was to avert possible break down of law and order in the state.
He said: “This sort 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.
“We see this action of INEC 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.”
Mimiko, who expressed shock over the decision of INEC to substitute Jegede with Ibrahim, said there was no basis for such decision.
He said: “I am shocked.
“In logic, in law, in politics, there is no basis for it whatsoever.
“The Jimoh Ibrahim factor in all of this is predicated on a court order given by Justice Okon Abang.
“Incidentally, that court order is about zonal and state executives of PDP.
“That order is about the 2009 election.
“Neither Jimoh Ibrahim nor Jegede were parties to the suit.”
The governor alleged that the party primaries that produced Ibrahim was conducted in Ibadan, Oyo State without INEC or security agencies monitoring it.
He said that initially, INEC took the right decision by accepting the name of Jegede as PDP flag bearer before “the sudden u-turn” on Thursday when the commission released the list of names of the contestants.
Mimiko said: “INEC took the right decision initially by making it clear that to start with, it is not state or zonal executive that is empowered by the electoral act to conduct election.
“Secondly, the Abang judgement on the basis of which they were putting pressure on INEC to accept Ibrahim as a candidate was referring to 2009 election.
“There is nothing about 2016 election in that judgement.
“Ordinarily, we should have disregarded the order because like I said, Jegede was not a party to the suit, neither was Ibrahim.
“But we were also advised that it was very important for us to appeal so that if anybody is up to a mischief, we would have taken the plank off the person.
“Immediately, we appealed that notice of appeal, especially when we had filed in our papers, submitted our briefs and gotten date, that should serve as a stay of execution.”
Mimiko observed that under INEC guidelines, the period for substitution of candidates had elapsed and hence the substitution of Jegede by INEC was not proper.
He called on the people of the state to continue to maintain the peace as efforts had been intensified towards addressing the matter.
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