Governor Mimiko: plays politics with workers unpaid

Medical doctors and other health workers  in  Ondo State yesterday  began a strike to protest the non-payment of five months outstanding salaries.

Medical personnel, including pharmacists, nurses, laboratory scientists and other allied health workers, marched on major streets in Ondo, Governor Mimiko’s home town.

The doctors, who converged on the Mother and Child Hospital, at 7am closed the gate leading to the hospital.

They carried placards with various inscriptions such as “Pay our salaries “; “Shall we die before you pay us?”; “We are saving lives, pay our salaries and “Save us from hunger” among others.

But as the workers embarked on strike, Governor Mimiko is busy fighting for the control of his Peoples Democratic Party in the south west geo-political zone.

And he has a main contender: Neighbouring Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state, who sees himself as the most senior governor in the PDP, having been governor first in 2003.

Mimiko and Fayose will both lead two separate meetings of the party today, with Mimiko hosting some party leaders in Akure, while Fayose, along with Senator Buruji Kashamu hosts another in Ijebu-Igbo.

Both factions will  discuss the party’s proposed national convention in Port Harcourt.

The Akure meeting is opposed to the zoning of the national chairmanship to the North and moves by the chairman, Senator Modu Sheriff, to extend his tenure beyond the May 21 convention.

The Ijebu-Igbo meeting,  according to the PDP National Vice Chairman, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe,  will forge a common front on the zoning of party positions, ahead of the national convention billed for Port-Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

Expected at the meeting are members of the NEC from Southwest, Board of Trustees (BoT) members, former and serving governors and deputy governors, former and serving senators, and former and serving National Assembly members.

Others are former governorship candidates and their running mates, former ministers and ambassadors, six state chairmen and members of the working committees, former and present members of Houses of Assembly and 50 selected leaders from each of the six states.

But, a source close to Miniko said: “The real meeting of Yoruba leaders in the PDP takes place tomorrow (today) in Akure. The governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, is convening the meeting on behalf of the leaders. We know that some people have slated a parallel meeting at Ijebu-Igbo.  But, that Ijebu-Igbo meeting is a non-event.”

According to the source, prominent PDP leaders expected at the Akure meeting include former Deputy Chairman Chief Olabode George, former Transport and Aviation Minister Chief Ebenezer Babatope, former Works Minister Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, former Majority Leader of the House of Representatives Hon. Mulikat Adeola-Akande, former Sports and Special Duties Minister Prof. Taoheed Adedoja, former Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Chief Jumoke Akinjide, Senator Femi Kila, Senator Bode Olajumoke, Ambassador Dare Bejide, Chief Ladosu Ladipo, Dr, Doyin Okupe, Chief Yekini Adeojo, Chief Joju Fadairo, Prince Nekan Olateru-Olagbegi and Capt. Tunji Shelle.

*With reports by The Nation