Mimiko to Buhari: INEC wants to set Ondo on fire

Olusegun Mimiko, governor of Ondo state, says the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Jimoh Ibrahim as candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the November 26 poll is capable of setting the state on fire.

Addressing state house correspondents after a private meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Mimiko said there was no basis for INEC’s action.

He vowed that everything possible would be done for the commission to reverse the decision, which he described as shocking.

“I am shocked. In logic, in law, in politics, there is no basis for this decision whatsoever,” he said.

“This action potentially can cause a breach of peace. We see this action 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.

“In the last seven and half years, we have done everything possible to put good governance on the table and promote peace.”

Mimiko said while the primary which produced Eyitayo Jegede, candidate of the Ahmed Makarfi faction held in Akure, the state capital, and was monitored by security agents and electoral officials, the exercise which threw up Ibrahim held in the neighbouring state of Oyo.

He argued that the court order which the INEC based its decision upon was about zonal and state executives of the PDP, and not about the 2016 election.

Mimiko said the Makarfi faction got two court orders restraining INEC from substituting Jegede, but the commission chose to disregard the orders.

“Only around 7 or 8 pm on Thursday did we get to know that INEC for no justifiable reason had substituted the name of Jegede and replaced it with that of Ibrahim,” he said.

“The question to ask is on whose order has INEC done that?

“Apart from the fact that we have two restraining orders on INEC, the commission knows fully well that Jimoh Ibrahim’s primary was in Ibadan.

“There was no report by security agencies that the security situation in Ondo state warranted the movement of the primary to Ibadan or anywhere outside the state for that matter.

“Under INEC guidelines, the time for substitution of candidates has even elapsed.”