60 Facts About Olusegun Mimiko

Olusegun Mimiko was the senatorial candidate of the Zenith Labour Party for Ondo Central District in the 2019 Senate elections.

Olusegun Mimiko served as the 16th governor of Ondo State, becoming the first two-term governor of Ondo State, and the first Labour Party governor in Nigeria.

Olusegun Mimiko was born and raised in Ondo Town, Ondo state, South West Nigeria.

Olusegun Mimiko's political career began at medical school in the University of Ife, where he was a member of the Students' Representatives Council and served as the public relations officer of the International Students' Association of the institution from 1977 to 1978.

Olusegun Mimiko held this position till July 2005, when he was appointed as the federal minister of housing and urban development.

Olusegun Mimiko challenged the outcome of the election in the courts in what turned out to be a two-year legal tussle that climaxed in his being declared the true winner of the governorship poll by a unanimous decision of the Tribunal Court, and the Court of Appeal in 2009.

Olusegun Mimiko went on to win re-election in 2012, beating his closest challenger, Olusola Oke of the People's Democratic Party.

Olusegun Mimiko received the nomination as the presidential candidate of the Zenith Labour Party in October 2018.

On 14 November 2018, Olusegun Mimiko announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign, a few days before the campaign season was formally opened.

Olusegun Mimiko took up the Zenith Labour Party's senatorial ticket for Ondo Central district.

Olusegun Mimiko's father was a sawmill manager and a cocoa plantation farmer.

Olusegun Mimiko was a social commentator on national and global developments and a philanthropist.

Olusegun Mimiko's mother, Muinat Mimiko was a trader until her retirement.

In 1990, Olusegun Mimiko married Olukemi Adeniyi who studied French language at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife.

Olusegun Mimiko began school at St Joseph's Primary School Aponmu near Akure, St Patrick Primary School, Yaba at Ondo in the early 1960s.

Olusegun Mimiko attended St Joseph's College, Ondo from 1966 to 1971.

Olusegun Mimiko was a Higher School Certificate Student at the Gboluji Grammar School, Ile-Oluji between 1971 and 1972.

Olusegun Mimiko began medical school at the University of Ife in 1972.

Olusegun Mimiko is registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria as a Medical Practitioner.

Olusegun Mimiko was a House Officer with the Ondo State Health Management Board under which he worked at the General Hospital, Ado Ekiti between 1980 and 1981.

Olusegun Mimiko then worked at the Nigerian Navy College, Onne, Port Harcourt before returning in 1982, to the hospital as a medical officer.

Olusegun Mimiko sought political expression and identity in Obafemi Awolowo's Unity Party of Nigeria during the Second Nigerian Republic.

Olusegun Mimiko took up membership of the party after his return from the National Youth Service scheme.

In 1983, Olusegun Mimiko served as the Publicity Secretary of the Ondo local government chapter of the UPN.

In 1988, the OSG General Assembly urged its members to participate fully in politics, with Olusegun Mimiko leading the initiative.

In 1990, Olusegun Mimiko was supported unsuccessfully by the OSG to run for office as chairman of the former Ondo Local Government now Ondo East and Ondo West Local Government Areas under the new Social Democratic Party.

Later that year, Olusegun Mimiko was elected twice and served as an ex-officio member of the SDP Executive Council in the Ondo Local Government Council Area.

Olusegun Mimiko was involved in grassroots mobilization and served as a member of the Party's Disciplinary Committee.

Olusegun Mimiko's OSG played a pivotal role in the organization of Bamidele Olumilua's campaign for the office of the governor of Ondo State.

In January 1992, under the governor Bamidele Olumilua administration, Olusegun Mimiko was appointed commissioner for health and social services, old Ondo state, which originally included what is known as Ekiti State.

Olusegun Mimiko facilitated the establishment of a Pharmacy Shop System under which 24-hour pharmacy services were being provided in the main hospitals around the State.

In 1999, Olusegun Mimiko was prevailed upon by Adebayo Adefarati to shelve his gubernatorial ambition for Adefarati's governorship race.

Olusegun Mimiko later stated that he supported Adefarati on the condition that Adefarati would run for one term.

Olusegun Mimiko was appointed commissioner for health in the state, making it the second time he would hold the office.

Olusegun Mimiko facilitated the delivery of health services to the innermost parts of Ondo State, providing thousands of rural dwellers with their real first contact with the government.

On 7 November 2002 Olusegun Mimiko formally announced his intention to contest the governorship election on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy.

Olusegun Mimiko was perceived as crucial to the realisation of Agagu's ambition and an accord was struck with him, which political analysts believe was key to Agagu dislodging Adefarati in the 2003 elections.

Olusegun Mimiko was appointed the secretary to the Ondo State Government in 2003.

Olusegun Mimiko held this position until July 2005, when he was appointed by Olusegun Obasanjo as the Federal Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development.

Olusegun Mimiko was a key player in the formation of the administration's Road Map to Progress, which situated the administration's intended achievements within a specified period of time.

Olusegun Mimiko stated later that Governor Agagu's decision to run for a second term came as a surprise to him as he had put aside his gubernatorial ambition to support Agagu on the condition that Agagu would serve a term of office and support Olusegun Mimiko to take over in 2007.

In 2005, after the sack of the Federal Minister of Housing from Ondo State, Alice Mobolaji Osomo, by President Obasanjo, and the disqualification of Governor Agagu's replacement nominee, Ambassador Bayo Yusuf, by the Senate during a screening process, Olusegun Mimiko was nominated by President Obasanjo for the position, and confirmed by the Senate as Minister of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development.

Olusegun Mimiko coordinated the Obasanjo administration's Reform Programme in the Housing and Urban Development sector, bringing about a shift in policy from direct construction of houses by the government, to increased involvement of the private sector; redevelopment of government landed properties through private sector real estate developers to increase housing stock; and a focus on the mortgage sector in the ongoing re-organization of Nigeria's financial system.

Olusegun Mimiko managed the gradual withdrawal of government from direct provision of residential housing to public servants through the monetization policy; the re-organization and re-capitalization of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria for more robust operation; and the enhancement of the operations of the National Housing Fund.

Ahead of the 2007 general elections in April, Olusegun Mimiko resigned from his position as Federal Minister for housing, lands, and urban development on 8 December 2006, to contest for the office of governor of Ondo State.

Mimiko recalls that President Olusegun Obasanjo pleaded with him and threatened him not to resign from his cabinet to contest against Governor Agagu.

On 14 December 2006, the Labour Party was launched officially in the southwestern state and Olusegun Mimiko emerged as the Party's gubernatorial candidate at a rally in the Akure city hall and was formally presented to the people by the Labour Party's national chairman, Dan Nwanyanwu.

Olusegun Mimiko set up the party structure, and candidates amidst financial constraints; The leadership of the Labour Party used existing secondary organisations, whose operations were supportive of Olusegun Mimiko's aspirations.

The President's statements against Olusegun Mimiko were referenced and addressed by the Nigerian Senate on 21 February 2007.

Olusegun Mimiko contested as the Labour Party candidate and won re-election on 20 October 2012, for a second term in office, making him the first governor in Ondo State to win a second term election since 1999.

Olusegun Mimiko is the first civilian governor to serve for more than four years since the creation of Ondo state in 1976.

Olusegun Mimiko called his educational intervention policy the 5Is formula; Incentive, Inspection, Institutional Management, Infrastructure development and ICT development.

Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu, the last child of Obafemi Awolowo, and former Nigerian ambassador to the Netherlands described Olusegun Mimiko as going a step further of the legacies of Awolowo, particularly in the area of democratising access to education.

On 12 June, 2012, widely seen by the Nigerian people as the true Democracy Day in remembrance of Moshood Abiola, Olusegun Mimiko flagged off the Free School Shuttle buses for all primary and secondary school students.

In December 2010, Olusegun Mimiko initiated the first Residency Card Project in Nigeria called the Kaadi Igbe Ayo Project, stating that the project was primarily designed for efficient service delivery and not just for identification.

In 2012, Olusegun Mimiko was presented with the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award at the 6th Session of the World Urban Forum held in Naples, Italy in September 2012.

Olusegun Mimiko is the second Nigerian to win the award after Akin Mabogunje in 1998.

The Olusegun Mimiko administration established the Cocoa Revolution Project, a pilot land restoration program to aid farmers in the development of skills needed to produce premium cocoa beans.

On 2 September 2011, Olusegun Mimiko presented a review of the state laws in use since 1978.

Olusegun Mimiko was instrumental in bringing the Akure Division of the Court of Appeal to Ondo State.