ONDO GUBER: How Mimiko Deceived ACN, By Tinubu

AS the tumultuous cloud raised in the build-up to the Ondo State governorship election of October 20 gradually settles, the major actors are still evaluating the process and its outcome. While Governor Olusegun Mimiko, who was returned winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), finds it convenient to explain the game plan that fetched him the winning results, the two major opposition parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) are still searching for details of why they lost.
As at last week, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State and leader of the ACN, did not concede victory. Instead, he alluded to being tricked by Mimiko to stay action on an offensive to overrun the State, in the understanding that Mimiko’s Labour Party needed time to blend into the ACN.

Not realising early enough that Mimiko was only buying time to stabilise himself and his lonesome Labour Party (LP) platform, Tinubu said he refused to put life into the structures of the ACN in Ondo State, to give it competitive edge. By the time it became a reality that the LP and ACN would not be together, at least for now, the latter did not have any other choice than to hurriedly mobilise for the October election. The outing was, thus, more of an afterthought and less effective.

Tinubu, the acclaimed master political strategist, was outsmarted and he conceded that much.

Apart from starting late, Tinubu also raised issues with pre-election processes of INEC and the security arrangements, which he said could not have provided the best of level-playing ground.

Tinubu explains how he waited patiently for Mimiko to make up his mind. “We did; we consulted leaders, some leaders even approached us, but there was a limit to our patience here. Just realise one thing, I am not a skater on the wheel of Nigerian politics. I have a party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). I can only promote along with others and other leaders, the interest of that party. I cannot belong to two parties at the same time. So, if there was no commitment of any kind, there is no way I will join hands with a Mimiko for a Labour Party.

“ I would have worked hard then for their failure or their destruction, but we waited only on the promise of Mimiko coming to our party. Then we said ‘ok, if you will share that common goal, and vision, wewill work together to actualise your dream,’ and we did.   We said to him; ‘if you know you were cheated, we will work with you,’ and we did. Then, he promised that within 30 days of his inauguration, within one month, he would move over; that is the truth! Then, the first, second, and third year went; we left our party un-serviced. Men of goodwill came and discussed with us, and suddenly, we saw the shifting.”

Tinubu disclaimed insinuations that the loss of Ondo is a signal that Southwest is no longer within his control. According to him, it only thought him a lesson on the need to be firmer on future political collaborations.

On 2015, he said the opposition must come together to dislodge the PDP, adding that President Jonathan has failed to perform.

On Pa Obafemi Awolowo’s legacy, Tinubu said: “I have read Awolowo in several books, and he is our hero and mentor, but I cannot but be Bola Tinubu. I can only thread the path of Awolowo, without his shoes... I didn’t know his size; I can’t step into his shoes because they are either bigger or smaller, and his image and legacy are bigger than myself. I can only use and share the vision. He went away with his shoes and his cap, but he left a legacy, a vision.”

The ACN leader also said  that attempts to  rubbish the report of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force headed by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu  with the motive of undermining his integrity would not succeed.

Source: Guardian