Court of Appeal declares Mimiko Ondo governor

The Court of Appeal in Benin has declared the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Rahman Mimiko, as the winner of the April 2007 gubernatorial election in the state.

In a unanimous decision by a panel of five justices led by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, the court upheld the decision of the Ondo State Election Petitions Tribunal, that had on July 25, 2008 declared Mimiko as the winner of the election. The appeal court said Mimiko, a medical doctor, won in 12 out of the 18 local governments of the state.


By this decision, the sitting governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, has been removed from office. The removal of Agagu, who is of the Peoples Democratic Party, has reduced the ruling party‘s control of states in Nigeria to 25, with Ekiti State, where the appeal court on February 17, 2009 ordered for a rerun governorship election in 90 days, still hanging in the balance.

Mimiko‘s ascension to office follows an acrimonious battle since 2007 between him and Agagu. Both were formerly of the PDP, before Mimiko‘s bid to clinch the governorship ticket in 2007 was truncated by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Mimiko is a former minister of Housing and Urban Development and has been a Secretary to the State Government in Ondo State.

The Labour Party was formed along ideologies espoused by the Nigeria Labour Congress, as the only pro-workers‘ political party in Nigeria. It was the initial platform on which the former NLC President, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, sought to run for governor of Edo State in 2007. However, due to political exigencies, Oshiomhole later dumped the LP and moved to the Action Congress.

He was eventually declared winner of the April 2007 governorship election by the appeal court on November 11, 2008. The LP has thus joined other opposition parties which control states in Nigeria such as the Action Congress, All Nigeria Peoples Party, the Progressive Peoples Alliance and All Progressive Grand Alliance.

Former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chris Ngige, was the first governor to be removed through the judicial process in the Fourth Republic. After his removal in March 2006 by the appeal court, other governors similarly ousted include Senator Liyel Imoke (Cross River); Ibrahim Idris (Kogi); Sir Celestine Omehia (Rivers); Mr. Andy Uba (Anambra); Murtala Nyako (Adamawa); Mr. Segun Oni (Ekiti); Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor (Edo).

However, Imoke, Nyako and Idris returned to office after winning the rerun elections in their states, as ordered by the appeal court. Omehia was removed by the Supreme Court and replaced with Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, whom the apex court said was wrongly substituted as the PDP’s governorship candidate.


There are reports of wild jubilation on the streets of the Ondo State capital, Akure, while officials of Agagu’s ousted administration have been moving their property out of official quarters since Sunday..