The inauguration is coming months after election
The Ondo state governor, Olusegun Mimiko, and his deputy, Ali Olanusi Ondo, have been sworn-in for another four year term, months after winning a re-election.
At an event attended by prominent Nigerians, including former head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar, several governors and past governors, Mr. Mimiko, promised to work and raise the state’s economy and integrate the south west Nigeria.
Mr. Mimiko, who took the oath of office after his deputy, told the gathering in his inaugural speech captioned “The Work Continues”, that in the next four years he would take governance closer to the people by posting greater achievements on all fronts.
“As good citizens, we must be ready to fulfill our parts of the social contract; of obeying laws, paying taxes, generally discharging our duties and responsibilities and also fighting for our legitimate rights. We must renew our commitments to peace and security,” he said.
“We, members of the political class, must cease from looking at government and service as a goldmine. We must acknowledge that the good of all translates into the good of the individual and not necessarily vice versa.”
The governor said he is prepared to cooperate with other sister states in the South West and also collaborate across party lines for the benefit of the nation.
“We assure our sister states of our commitment to cooperation such that our region can benefit from the individual strength of each State and possibilities of our aggregated potentials,” he said.
“We remain steadfast in our call for a restructuring of the country to achieve true federalism. We demand more equity in the revenue sharing formula and the devolution of more powers to the federating units.”
Meantime, the People’s Democratic Party, an opposition in Ondo state, said on Sunday the newly sworn-in governor will soon be kicked out by the ruling of the State tribunal when it finally delivers its judgement.
PDP said the prediction was based on the recent revelations at the State at the Tribunal regarding the election.
A Statement signed by the party’s director of publicity, Ayo Fadaka, said Mr. Mimiko is just only acting as an interim Governor whose tenure will soon be expired by the ruling of the tribunal.
“Therefore we declare that given the quantum of evidences of electoral fraud that Mimiko and his party perpetrated during the October 20, election which we have laid bare before the Tribunal and given our renewed confidence in the Judiciary, particularly the current puritanical actions of the Chief Justice of the Federation, we are confident that Mimiko for now is a mere caretaker Governor whose tenure will most certainly expire at the end of the legal fireworks currently in place,” the PDP said.
