Mimiko Declares..’I Owe Tinubu Nothing,.He Is Not My Benefactor

Outgoing Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has said he owes Bola Ahmed Tinubu nothing in terms of political goodwill..and that Jaban (tinubu) is not his benefactor…When he left the PDP, he said the best thing he could have done was to join the camp of the then Governor of Lagos State, Tinubu, who he said, would have given him the ticket to run in Ondo State; but he said he refused.

“That time, I did not run to Tinubu. They were the two power brokers (Obasanjo and Tinubu) then. The natural thing to do was to go and hide behind these people. Tinubu would give me the ticket and give me money to run and I would be more immune from Baba’s bullets. I didn’t go to him; I stood on my own,” he said.

He added that four months to the election, he decided to form and run the LP.

Mimiko added, “Four months to the election – four months, December 14, 2006 – was when we inaugurated the Labour Party in Ondo State and election was April 2007. Four months and we formed a new party. We set up the structure, set up candidates.

“We won all elections and we were going with our bare knuckles. I didn’t go to Tinubu then. “

He denied the claim that he promised to join the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria after winning the legal battle that removed Agagu.

Mimiko, who will hand over on February 24, 2017, insisted that he didn’t betray Tinubu, admitting that the former governor of Lagos State contributed money towards his success at the election tribunal.

He said the claim made by Tinubu during the governorship campaign of Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), who was the candidate of the defunct ACN in 2012 that he (Tinubu) spent millions on his election petition tribunal case was not true at all.

Mimiko described “the technical assistance” offered by Tinubu as insignificant, adding that the assistance was not instrumental in the favourable outcome of the judgement.

Mimiko added, “I did not take any money from Tinubu. He offered technical and logistic assistance, which I appreciated and which I have had occasions to reciprocate in the course of similar litigation in which he had interest when I was opportune to do so.

“It is not even important now but it was also a fact that the result of the forensic expert was not part of the evidence that the judges relied upon to give me judgment.”