Mimiko Joins Atiku’s Opponents, Ortom Demands Apology From Ex-VP

Former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, has rejected the appointment of the presidential campaign council of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

Mimiko said he remained solidly behind the agitation of the Rivers State Governor Nyesome Wike on the removal of the national chairman of the party.

The immediate past governor of Ondo State is a prominent member of the aggrieved leaders of the party who are sympathetic to the course of the Wike agitation.

In a statement made available to our correspondent in Akure, the state capital by his special assistant on Media and Digital Communications, John Paul Akinduro, Mimiko said he was neither consulted by anyone nor consented to his inclusion in any of the state PDP Presidential Campaign Council list.

According to Akinduro, “Dr Olusegun Mimiko has been inundated with calls and messages from the general public, and his political friends and concerned individuals around the nation; and in particular, his teeming supporters across the length and breadth of Ondo State, seeking clarity on a fake news making the rounds since yesterday that he had ditched Governors Nyesom Wike, Seyi Makinde and their colleague governors, and abandoned the agitation for regional equity within the PDP; and in particular, making a party member of southern extraction its the national chairman before the 2023 election.

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“The report and the list that triggered it, are fake and a deliberate attempt to muddle things up and smear Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.

“It must be stated with emphasis that Dr. Mimiko was neither consulted by anyone nor consented to his inclusion in any Ondo State PDP Presidential Campaign Council list.

“For the avoidance of doubt and to set the record straight, Dr Mimiko is unwavering in his commitment to the principle of equity, fairness and justice through which he believes a credible push for a PDP victory is possible.

“He fully subscribes to the agitation by his colleagues and other stakeholders in PDP and the generality of Nigerians that the PDP structure must reflect Nigeria’s diversity, if it genuinely wants to unify a visibly divided country.”

Also yesterday, Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom threatened that if Atiku did not apologize to him and the people of the state as well as retract the message he sent concerning the Gbeji massacre “on the day of election, we will vote according to the election.”

Governor Ortom who disclosed this while addressing Jemgbagh Support Groups comprising Gboko, Tarka and Buruku who were in Makurdi also asked the PDP presidential candidate to stop lying against him, saying he take exception to such lies.

Governor Ortom who was reacting to what he alleged as hate speech by Alhaji Atiku made against him during a media parley in Kaduna and the derogatory condolence message he sent to the people of Gbeji where the herders attacked and killed over 36 persons stressing that such should not have come from someone seeking to rule the country.

Ortom said, “I hate lies. Why would Atiku tell lies against me in Kaduna that I have apologized to him on behalf of Benue people for stealing Fulani cows? This is a blatant lie. Rather, it was Atiku who tendered apology to me when I chatted him about what he said against me in Kaduna State that he was unfair saying such a thing against me, and I told him to make the apology public because you cannot lie against me publicly and the apologize to me privately.”