Ondo State Governor Olusegun Mimiko Monday again alerted President Muhammadu Buhari of a potential security threat in the state ahead of the Saturday’s gubernatorial election.
Mimiko held a 20-minute closed-door meeting with Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja after which he headed for the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, for another meeting that lasted 25 minutes.
Addressing State House correspondents later, the governor stressed that he owed Nigerians the responsibility of briefing the president of any “credible” security threat in the state.
Mimiko had on October 28 paid a similar visit to President Buhari to alert him of the “potential danger” of the replacement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), of Eyitayo Jegede with Jimoh Ibrahim as governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
Asked why he had frequently visited the Aso Rock Villa, the governor responded: “What is frequent? This is my second visit to the Villa since this crisis in our party started. Like I said, as the chief security officer of my state, if there is any credible threat to security, I owe the responsibility to Nigerians to apprise Mr President of what is going on in the state.”
Mimiko also debunked the rumour that he was planning to dump the PDP for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He stated: “Mr President was in my state to campaign for his party. I extended to him the courtesies of receiving him at the airport and seeing him off as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, not as APC.
“I understand that people have speculated that I am going to the APC. There is nothing of such. I only extended him (Buhari) normal courtesies that protocols demand. As a governor and chief security officer of the state, if the president is visiting, no matter the party he belongs, it is only appropriate for me to extend the courtesies to him. That was what I did in Akure.
“And I have also come to brief him (the president) about the security situation in my state.”
On the crisis in the PDP regarding the forthcoming governorship election in his state, he was he was just concentrating on the party’s case in court.
Asked what would happen if his candidate (Jegede) wins at the Supreme Court, Mimiko said: “The whole of Ondo State will erupt in joy and it will be so self-evident.”