Dr. Olusegun Mimiko is the 5th Executive
Governor of Ondo State. Born 3rd October 1954 to Pa and Mrs. Atiku
Bamidele Mimiko of Ondo Kingdom in Ondo State, his mother hails from the
prominent Ogunsulie family. While his great, great grandfather was High
Chief Adaja Gbegbaje of Ondo, and his great grandfather, Chief
Akinmeji, was Ruwase of Ondo. His father was an accomplished businessman
of his time. It’s then not surprising that he ensured all his children
were all educated in good schools across the country. As a young boy, he
had a doting father, and his mother remains very caring. Though not
born into opulence, he grew up in an environment that was suffused in
love and care.
Olusegun Mimiko was admitted to St.
Joseph’s College, Ondo in 1966 where he graduated in 1970 with the West
African School Certificate. His graduation from this prestigious school
helped shaped his life. Between 1971 and 1972, he was a Higher School
Certificate (HSC) student at Gboluji Grammar School, Ile-Oluji before he
gained admission to the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo
University), Ile-Ife in 1972 to study Medicine. He chose Medicine
because his father believed that if you didn’t study science, you were
dumb. It’s as a result of this, his eldest sister Alhaja Hafsat Oyeneyin
read Pharmacy. In 1976, ‘Olusegun Mimiko bagged a B.Sc. Health Sciences
Degree, and the MBChB in 1980, and he is appropriately registered with
the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council as a Medical Practitioner.
As a medical doctor, he worked in
the private and public sectors. Between 1980 and 1981, he was a House
Officer with the Ondo State Health Management Board under which auspices
he worked at the General (now State Specialist) Hospital, Ado-Ekiti. He
had a stint with the Nigerian Naval College (NNS Onura), Onne, Port
Harcourt, between 1981 and 1982, from where he returned to join the
services of the Ondo State Health Management Board as Medical Officer in
the General (now State Specialist) Hospital, Ondo, in 1982.
From late-1983 to 1984, Dr. Olusegun
Mimiko had his initial taste of private medical practice by working at
different times as a Medical Officer at Apagun Clinic, Yaba, Lagos; and
as Acting Medical Director, Alleluyah Hospital, Oshodi, Lagos. He
returned to public service for another year between April 1984 and
February 1985 (again with the Ondo State Health Management Board) before
finally going into full private medical practice with the setting up of
the Mona Mediclinic with headquarters in Ondo Town, Ondo State. During
his private practice, people trooped to his hospital for treatment, and
at a point, his clinic was like a charity home.
How then did a medical doctor so
good with his work decide to veer into politics? His political
activities date back to his undergraduate days as a medical student at
the then University of Ife, in the late 1970s and early 1980. People
knew him more with symposia and student union activism while he was in
university. His last two years in the university, in particular, were
filled with activism. So powerful was he that he made a Student Union
President in his room at Ife then. He was the one who packaged Wole
Olaoye to become president of the student union as he(Mimiko) was his
campaign manager. So, he came from that tradition of activism and he was
able to blend it with Medicine.
Olusegun Mimiko was at various times a member of the Students’
Representatives Council (Parliament), 1975/76, and chairman of its
Special Honours Committee. For a period in 1976, he was elected chairman
of the council. Outside the union legislative house, he served on the
University of Ife students’ union electoral commission, 1976/77. He was
the public relations official of the International Students’ Association
of the university between 1977 and 1978.
After graduation Dr. Olusegun Mimiko
moved up from a student union activist to find political expression and
identity in the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) of Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
After his return from the National Youth Service scheme, he took up
membership of the party. As a budding politician, he served as the
publicity secretary of the Ondo local government chapter of the UPN in
1983. The internal crises which be-devilled the UPN and the politics of
the era dragged on to the 1983 general elections. This could not stop
Dr. Mimiko and douse his in-born passion for social change. This cohered
with the concern of 3 budding intellectuals ensconced in two Nigeria
universities; themselves accomplished individuals today, Professor Femi
Mimiko, Dr. Rotimi Adelola (Ondo State’s current Secretary to the State
Government) and Engr. Wole Akinjo, on the need for some form of
intervention and departure from this growing tendency at demonizing
politics. They vigorously engaged with the idea of getting concerned
elements to continually brainstorm on ways to improve on the politics
and governance in the Nigerian society.
Late in 1987, this idea led to the
emergence of the Ondo Study Group (OSG) over which he presided. After an
extensive review of its political mobilization effort in 1988, the OSG
General Assembly enjoined full participation of its member in politics.
Dr. Olusegun Mimiko took a lead on this initiative. He was supported by
the Group to run for office as chairman of the former Ondo Local
Government (now Ondo East and West LGAs) in 1990 under the aegis of the
newly formed Social Democratic Party (SDP). While that early effort did
not achieve its specific objective, it marked the transformation of Dr.
Mimiko into a full-fledged politician. He was later to serve as an
ex-officio member of the SDP Executive Council in Ondo Local Government
Area and as a member of the party’s Disciplinary Committee.
OSG soon found rewarding relevance
in the campaign organisation of Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua who was
bidding for the government seat on Ondo State under the SDP. Before
long, Evangelist Olumilua saw the talent in the energetic Dr. Olusegun
Mimiko and appointed him the honorable health commissioner in 1992. By
the time he was leaving office in late 1993 as a result o the military
coup d’etat that terminated that republic, Dr. Mimiko had left his mark
as a performer. This first tour of duty as a public official was a great
opportunity for Dr. Mimiko to demonstrate the stuff of which he was
made. It set the tone for a distinguished career in politics the
continuation of which is his swearing-in as the fifth elected Governor
of the Sunshine State.
In recognition of his extensive
contribution to the victory of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the
1999 governorship election in Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko was
appointed as the honorable Commissioner for Health in the state, making
the second time he would hold that office. Before he resigned from that
position on 7th November 2002, he had greatly enhanced the quality of
health care delivery in the state. On 7th November 2002, Dr. Olusegun
Mimiko resigned his appointment as State Commissioner for Health, ‘for
strictly personal reasons’ in the conviction that he would be in a
better position to facilitate increased quality of governance in Ondo
State. In response to the call across the state to join the
gubernatorial race, he formally announced his intention to contest the
governorship election on the platform of AD on Tuesday, 19th November
2002, at a press conference in Akure. He insisted that for Ondo State,
there certainly were brighter days ahead. That was the cliche that
defined his campaign organisation – the Brighter Days Network.
Dr. Olusegun Mimiko later left AD
over issues centred on irregularities on gubernatorial candidate. He
then adopted the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) of those early years as
a preferred platform for the continuing struggle to enthrone good
governance in Ondo State. After the victory of the party in April 2003
polls, he was appointed Secretary to the State Government (SSG), a
position he occupied till July 2005 when he was appointed by then
president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as Minister of Housing and Urban
Development. It was from that position he resigned on 8th December 2006
to enable him offer himself once again for higher service to Ondo State
as Governorship candidate in the April 2007 election. This was under the
auspices of the Labour Party which he formally presented to the people
of the state at City Hall, Akure, on 14th December 2006.
Over the years, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko
has authored many research papers and published articles focusing on
issues as wide-ranging as medicine, international relations and national
socio-political developmental strategies. For leisure, Dr. Mimiko
engages in writing and reading. Way back in 1971, the young Olusegun had
won the John F. Kennedy Essay (School Level) Award, underscoring his
creative capabilities. He is also a farmer and an environmentalist with
an abiding love for flowers and plantations. He is also a lover of
exquisite art works. An administrator and record-maker per excellence,
Dr. Olusegun Mimiko has won several awards in recognition of his
excellent performance in public office and communal engagement. Dr.
Olusegun Mimiko is happily married to Mrs Olukemi Mimiko, a virtuous
woman who has greatly supported her husband. Together, His Excellency Dr
Olusegun Mimiko and Her Excellency Mrs Olukemi Mimiko are blessed with
adorable children.