Governor Mimiko At 60: His
Achievement-Packed Life
As An Activist, M’Doctor,
Commissioner, SSG, Minister &
Governor
Oct 2, 2014 Posted By In News, Politics Tagged
Olusegun Mimiko Biography, Olusegun Mimiko
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By KIKELOMO IWAJOMO
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.


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