Mimiko sure of Jonathan’s landslide victory in Southwest

THE governor of Ondo State and coordinator of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign in the South West geo-political zone, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko has expressed optimism that the party’s candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan will win the zone with a landslide in the coming elections.

     Mimiko who spoke at an interactive session with reporters in Akure, said the electorate in the six states of the South West are a sophisticated lot who cannot be hoodwinked into taking any political decision without looking at its merits.

    According to him, “in 2011, PDP had no governor in the South West yet at the end of the presidential election, PDP and Jonathan won in spite of that. The evidence is that it may not be the number of governors that will determine the outcome of the election because when PDP had no governor; Jonathan won five out of the six states.

    “Now Jonathan has two governors in the zone and I keep telling people that the South West is politically sophisticated and nobody can run away from that fact. If you want to get the support of the region South West, it must be based on substance and it must be based on your political antecedents and records. It must be based on empirical evidences.

     “Perception is very important in politics but perception that is fueled by propaganda is not sustainable and all the change propaganda may just be all out there but I can tell you that in the South West it is not deeply rooted because the evidence before us is that Jonathan administration had done a lot for us.

     “Nobody in the South West can deny the fact that the transportation sector especially our roads have been a major concern to us. And Jonathan has positively touched that sector especially Lagos-Ibadan road which is reputed to be the busiest road in Africa, Ore – Sagamu, Ore – Benin and many other roads that are undergoing major rehabilitations and construction in the South West.”

      The governor who recently defected back to the PDP from the Labour Party (LP) which platform he contested and won the Ondo governorship elections in 2007, also gave kudos to Jonathan for the successes his administration was able to record in other sectors like agriculture.

      He said, “I don’t have any doubt in mind that because of the level of sophistication in the South West and again, the people here are discerning, they will be able to say look, the candidate of the APC put side by side with Jonathan they will look at the political antecedent and the records.

      “There’s no way anybody can run away from his record in an election that is as important as the presidential election. We will be able to see the disposition of General Buhari to the rule of law and many other factors, so I don’t have any doubt in my mind that Jonathan will win handsomely in the South West.”