Olusegun Rahman Mimiko ( ; born 3 October 1954) is a Nigerian medical doctor and politician who served as governor of Ondo State from 2009 to 2017. He was the senatorial candidate of the Zenith Labour Party for Ondo Central District in the 2019 Senate elections. He served as the 16th (5th civilian) governor of Ondo State, becoming the first two-term governor of Ondo State, and the first Labour Party governor in Nigeria. Mimiko was previously a federal minister for housing and urban development, a secretary to the Ondo State Government, and a two-time Ondo State Commissioner for Health.
Mimiko was born and raised in Ondo Town, Ondo state, South West Nigeria. His political career began at medical school in the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), where he was a member of the Students’ Representatives Council (Parliament) and served as the public relations officer of the International Students’ Association of the institution from 1977 to 1978.
After graduating from the university in 1980 and completing his National Youth Service Corps year, Mimiko began practicing medicine. In 1985, he founded MONA MEDICLINIC in Ondo Town which served as a community charity center.Olu, Obafemi. Mimiko‘s Odyssey, A Biography of Revelations, 2017. Print.
Mimiko's first political appointment was as the commissioner of health and social services in Ondo State from 1992 till 1993 when a military coup terminated the democratic Third Nigerian Republic. On the return to democratic government in Nigeria, Mimiko again served as a commissioner of health in Ondo State from 1999 to 2002 when he resigned.
In 2003, he was appointed secretary to the Ondo State Government (SSG). He held this position till July 2005, when he was appointed as the federal minister of housing and urban development. Mimiko resigned as a minister to contest for the governorship of Ondo against the incumbent, Olusegun Agagu, in the 2007 elections.Olu, Obafemi. Mimiko‘s Odyssey, A Biography of Revelations, 2017. Print.
He won the keenly contested poll. But, influenced by former president Olusegun Obasanjo, the Independent National Electoral Commission announced Agagu as the winner. Mimiko challenged the outcome of the election in the courts in what turned out to be a two-year legal tussle that climaxed in his being declared the true winner of the governorship poll by a unanimous decision of the Tribunal Court, and the Court of Appeal in 2009.Tenuche, M. "Language of Politics and Political Behaviours: Rhetoric of President Olusegun Obasanjo and the 2007 General Elections in Nigeria." Journal of public administration and policy research 1.3 (2009): 54-65. He went on to win re-election in 2012, beating his closest challenger, Olusola Oke of the People's Democratic Party.
After leaving office, Mimiko spent a year delivering public lectures and advocating for universal healthcare and good governance in Nigeria, London, and Washington DC.Emmanuel, Afe Adedayo. "GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION LITIGATION AND POLITICAL STABILITY IN ONDO STATE NIGERIA, 1983-2013." International Journal of Arts & Sciences 8.2 (2015): 139.
In September 2018, he declared his intention to run for president of Nigeria in the 2019 elections. He received the nomination as the presidential candidate of the Zenith Labour Party in October 2018. On 14 November 2018, Mimiko announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign, a few days before the campaign season was formally opened. He took up the Zenith Labour Party's senatorial ticket for Ondo Central district.
Personal life
Rahman Olusegun Mimiko, fondly known as 'Iroko', was born on 3 October 1954, at Ondo Town in Ondo State, Nigeria. His father, Atiku Bamidele Mimiko, was the son of Pa Famimikomi, a son of Chief Ruwase Akinmeji, and a grandson of High Chief Adaja Gbegbaje of the Ondo Kingdom. Mimiko's father was a sawmill manager and a cocoa plantation farmer. He was also a social commentator on national and global developments and a philanthropist. His mother, Muinat Mimiko (née Ogunsulie) was a trader until her retirement. In 1990, Mimiko married Olukemi Adeniyi who studied French language at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. They have four children.
Education Mimiko began school at St. Joseph's Primary School Aponmu near Akure, St. Patrick Primary School, Yaba at Ondo in the early 1960s. He attended St. Joseph's College, Ondo from 1966 to 1971. He was a Higher School Certificate (HSC) Student at the Gboluji Grammar School, Ile-Oluji between 1971 and 1972. Mimiko began medical school at the University of Ife in 1972. He was Student Representative Council (parliament) 1975-1976 and chairman of its Special Honours Committee (1976-1977), member of Student's Union Electoral Commission 1976-1977, and public relations officer of International Students Association 1977-1978. He received a B.Sc. Health Science Degree in 1976, and the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery in 1980. Mimiko is registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria as a Medical Practitioner.
Medical career Mimiko was a House Officer with the Ondo State Health Management Board under which he worked at the General (now State Specialist) Hospital, Ado Ekiti between 1980 and 1981. He then worked at the Nigerian Navy College (NNS Onura), Onne, Port Harcourt (1981-1982) before returning in 1982, to the hospital as a medical officer. He practiced in Lagos as a medical officer at Apagun Clinic, Yaba and acting medical director at Alleluyah Hospital, Oshodi from 1983-1984. In 1985, he set up his own private medical practice MONA MEDI-CLINICS in Ondo City.
Political career While at university, Mimiko was a member of the Students’ Representatives Council (Parliament), 1975/76, and chairman of its Special Honours Committee. Asides from serving in the Union Legislative House, in 1976/77, he served on the University of Ife Students’ Union Electoral Commission. Between 1977 and 1978, he was the public relations official of the International Students’ Association of the university. Mimiko sought political expression and identity in Obafemi Awolowo's Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) during the Second Nigerian Republic. Mimiko took up membership of the party after his return from the National Youth Service scheme. In 1983, Mimiko served as the Publicity Secretary of the Ondo local government chapter of the UPN. The Ondo Study Group (OSG) was created in 1987, and headed by Mimiko. In 1988, the OSG General Assembly urged its members to participate fully in politics, with Mimiko leading the initiative. In 1990, Mimiko was supported unsuccessfully by the OSG to run for office as chairman of the former Ondo Local Government now Ondo East and Ondo West Local Government Areas under the new Social Democratic Party (SDP). Later that year, Mimiko was elected twice and served as an ex-officio member of the SDP Executive Council in the Ondo Local Government Council Area. Mimiko was involved in grassroots mobilization and also served as a member of the Party's Disciplinary Committee. Mimiko's OSG played a pivotal role in the organization of Bamidele Olumilua's campaign for the office of the governor of Ondo State.
Commissioner for Health, Ondo State (now Ondo & Ekiti States) of Nigeria 1992-1993 In January 1992, under the governor Bamidele Olumilua administration, Olusegun Mimiko was appointed commissioner for health and social services, old Ondo state, which originally included what is now known as Ekiti State. He facilitated the establishment of a Pharmacy Shop System under which 24-hour pharmacy services were being provided in the main hospitals around the State. In response to the incapacity of the government-owned hospitals to handle accidents and other emergency cases, he conceived and facilitated the actualization of what is known as the Accident and Emergency Centres in some of the Ondo State Hospitals. On 17 November 1993, a military Coup d'état led by General Sani Abacha terminated the Third Nigerian Republic and the administration of Governor Olumilua.
Commissioner for Health In 1999, Mimiko was prevailed upon by Adebayo Adefarati to shelve his gubernatorial ambition for Adefarati's governorship race. Mimiko later stated that he supported Adefarati on the condition that Adefarati would run for one term. Mimiko was appointed commissioner for health in the state, making it the second time he would hold the office. Within the first 100 days of Adefarati's administration, the Ministry of Health, headed by Mimiko, completed and equipped the Millennium Eye Centre, Akure. The Festivals of Surgery, which provided free surgical operations were carried out to restore the sight of blind and partially blind patients and to relief those with hernias. Mimiko facilitated the delivery of health services to the innermost parts of Ondo State, providing thousands of rural dwellers with their real first contact with the government.
By 2002, Mimiko, dissatisfied with the Adefarati government which had become embroiled in the ‘Plot 90 Gate’ scandal resigned his appointment as State Commissioner for Health. On 7 November 2002 Mimiko formally announced his intention to contest the governorship election on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). He gave a speech on 19 November 2002, at a Press Conference in Akure, expressing his conviction that for Ondo State, there were “brighter days ahead”, a catchphrase which coined from the name of his group, Brighter Days Network.
Following issues relating to the AD primary elections which he perceived as undemocratic, Mimiko left the party and pulled out his political structure. By 2003, Agagu, the Ondo State gubernatorial candidate of the PDP, having failed to win the governorship election in 1999, needed to forge political alliances with influencers in the State. Mimiko was perceived as crucial to the realisation of Agagu's ambition and an accord was struck with him, which political analysts believe was key to Agagu dislodging Adefarati in the 2003 elections. In April 2003, the erstwhile unpopular PDP won, and Olusegun Agagu became the governor of Ondo State.
Secretary to the Ondo State Government Mimiko was appointed the secretary to the Ondo State Government (SSG) in 2003. He held this position until July 2005, when he was appointed by Olusegun Obasanjo as the Federal Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development.
Mimiko as SSG represented Agagu for official duties more often than the deputy governor, Otunba Omolade Oluwateru, did. Mimiko was a key player in the formation of the administration's Road Map to Progress, which situated the administration's intended achievements within a specified period of time. The State's initiative to rescue the education sector was Mimiko's brain child. Mimiko stated later that Governor Agagu's decision to run for a second term came as a surprise to him as he had put aside his gubernatorial ambition to support Agagu on the condition that Agagu would serve a term of office and support Mimiko to take over in 2007.
In 2005, after the sack of the Federal Minister of Housing from Ondo State, Alice Mobolaji Osomo, by President Obasanjo, and the disqualification of Governor Agagu's replacement nominee, Ambassador Bayo Yusuf, by the Senate during a screening process,
Olusegun Mimiko was nominated by President Obasanjo for the position, and confirmed by the Senate as Minister of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development.Mimiko, Abbas Olubansile. To Live With Happiness. Ibadan: Safari Books Ltd, 2017. Print.
Minister for Housing and Urban Development