Nigeria Daily News: Ondo Poll: I’ll Claim 70% Votes, Says Mimiko

Ondo Poll: I’ll Claim 70% Votes, Says Mimiko
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Staff on 29/09/2012 20:00:00


EXACTLY three weeks to the election in Ondo State, incumbent Governor Olusegun
Mimiko is optimistic that he would claim victory in the exercise.
Indeed, the governor, who flies the flag of the Labour Party (LP), put his
expected victory in the balloting at about 70 percent. This was at an
interactive session with media men at his official lodge at the Government House
in Akure.
However, the entire outcome is predicated on a free and fair polling, for which
the governor is relying on President Goodluck Jonathan to deliver on his promise
in that regard.
According to Governor Mimiko, there are many variables in election, “but the
way the Nigerian federation is structured, the most important variable is free
and fair election,” as promised and propagated by the President.
“If the President commits himself to free and fair election, and actualises
that desire by allowing a level-playing ground, and ensuring that there is
security to man every aspect of the process, we would have gotten more than 60
per cent of the process right,” he said.
Mimiko listed other local factors, such as INEC officials, “who can make
themselves available for improper influence either through informal contact,
kinship or naira and kobo; and the factor of how desperate the opponents of
other political parties are.”
While stressing that there was nothing at the moment to suggest that the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would not conduct the election
according to the rules; the governor is worried about what he described as the
“desperation of our opponents” to taint the poll with malpractice and even
violence.
He said: “In our peculiar circumstance because of some geopolitical
considerations, one of our opponents is very desperate; and when a man is very
desperate, especially when he is not on ground in practical terms, and yet he
wants to rule, that means he would want to do things that are illegitimate. And
that means we have to take extra precautions, and keep our eyes wide.
“Today, (among) the ACN, PDP, and Labour Party, by any measure, we (Labour)
are not less than 70 per cent on ground. And yet, the opponents are still
boasting that they will capture this state. Unless something near cataclysm
happens, there is no other way other than illegitimate means for them to capture
it.”
Nonetheless, Governor Mimiko said his government, the Labour Party and the
people of Ondo State were keeping the situation under watch.
“I tell you that we are very confident; we think that we are vigilant; we are
looking at all the possibilities, all the shenanigans that come from whatever
source,” he said.
“It does not mean that we are sleeping, and snoring; we are sleeping with our
two eyes opened (laughter),” he added.
Yet, the governor emphasised the importance of the President keeping faith with
his one man, one vote mantra, as he demonstrated in the July 14 governorship
election in Edo State.
He disclosed that his government has requested 5,000 soldiers for deployment for
the election, “so that everywhere will be manned, with complete restriction of
movements so that we have a good outcome.”
On whether he had seen any major gap in INEC’s preparations for the election,
the governor said it was difficult at this stage to see such eventuality.
“The regulation says, 30 days to election, you must give us the voters’
register; they have done that,” he said. “Now, as the milestone progresses,
that’s when we can actually know.
“Since we don’t know what they are doing in their closet, it’s the
deliverables that can help us to measure their level of preparedness. The first
major deliverable is the voters’ register; they’ve given electronic copies
to everybody. They have done training, and sensitisation.
“I have a feeling that they are busy but it’s the timely deliverables,
delivered according to timelines, that can make us to say, empirically, these
people (INEC) are prepared” for the election.