Mimiko: The man that switches parties at will

If there is a medal for any Nigerian politician with a penchant for criss-crossing political parties the most, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko will be the ultimate winner in flying colours.

Between 1999 and today, the former governor of Ondo State has changed political parties like a bride changes clothes to delight her newly betrothed.

For a count, he has moved in and out of seven political parties at different times within a period of 21 years.

Popularly called ‘Iroko’ because of his political sophistication, grassroots popularity and charisma, Mimiko, a medical doctor, came into the limelight in 1999 when he was appointed Commissioner for Health in the Chief Adebayo Adefarati-led Alliance for Democracy (AD) government.

However, his first public appointment was in 1992 when he was appointed Commissioner for Health and Social Services in Ondo State. But the appointment lasted less than one year as the administration’s life was cut short by a military coup that terminated the Third Republic.

His journey of defection started on November 7, 2002, when he resigned from the Adefarati-led government to push for his gubernatorial ambition. But when it was evident that he had no space in the Alliance for Democracy’s roll call of governorship hopeful, he moved to the then ruling party at the centre, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Swiftly, he joined ranks with the late Dr. Olusegun Agagu, the Ondo State governorship candidate of PDP, to unseat his former boss and party, the AD, from the Alagbaka Government House. Upon the ascension of power by PDP in the state, he was offered the position of Secretary to the State Government (SSG).

With his influence looming almost larger than the governor, he attracted former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who appointed him Minister of Housing and Urban Development in July 2005. Regardless of the federal recognition, Mimiko still had his eyes on the Sunshine State.

Bent on contesting against another former boss of his for the second time, he resigned from the federal cabinet in 2006 and expectedly moved out of PDP to realise his ambition.

Pitching his tent this time around with a relatively unpopular Labour Party (LP), Mimiko contested against Agagu of PDP in the 2007 governorship election in Ondo State. Although he was not declared winner of the election immediately due to supposed influence from Aso Rock, he was declared winner of the election in 2009 after a two-year legal tussle.

He won re-election on the platform of LP in 2012, but moved back to PDP in the wake of the 2015 general election. His excuses for returning to PDP for the second term didn’t materialise as PDP and its presidential candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, lost the election to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Perhaps, not able to withstand the heat in PDP’s kitchen following the electoral failure, the medical doctor turned politician beats a retreat, resigned from PDP and returned to the Labour Party (LP) in June 2018.

But it was a matter of days before he raced to another party from the Labour Party. This time, he founded Zenith Labour Party (ZLP). In September 2018, he declared his intention to run for president of Nigeria in the 2019 elections and he received the nomination of ZLP.

The Star recalls that on November 14, 2018, he announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign and took up the Zenith Labour Party’s senatorial ticket for Ondo Central Senatorial District.

Mimiko, however, suffered a bloody nose in that outing as he lost his quest for a senatorial seat for Ondo Central to Ayo Akinyelure of PDP. He came a distant third, polling 56,628 votes.

Fast forward to 2021, the veteran of many wars and many titanic political skirmishes, is on the move again. He is back to PDP. This latest defection makes it the third time he would join PDP.

At 67, it is apparent that Mimiko is not off the political radar, but where his destination would be is a question, which answer resides in the belly of time.