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Olusegun Mimiko was admitted to St. Joseph’s College, Ondo in 1966 where he graduated in 1970 with the West African School Certificate. His graduation from this prestigious school helped shaped his life. Between 1971 and 1972, he was a Higher School Certificate (HSC) student at Gboluji Grammar School, Ile-Oluji before he gained admission to the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife in 1972 to study Medicine. He chose Medicine because his father believed that if you didn’t study science, you were dumb. It’s as a result of this, his eldest sister Alhaja Hafsat Oyeneyin read Pharmacy. In 1976, ‘Olusegun Mimiko bagged a B.Sc. Health Sciences Degree, and the MBChB in 1980, and he is appropriately registered with the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council as a Medical Practitioner.
As a medical doctor, he worked in the private and public sectors. Between 1980 and 1981, he was a House Officer with the Ondo State Health Management Board under which auspices he worked at the General (now State Specialist) Hospital, Ado-Ekiti. He had a stint with the Nigerian Naval College (NNS Onura), Onne, Port Harcourt, between 1981 and 1982, from where he returned to join the services of the Ondo State Health Management Board as Medical Officer in the General (now State Specialist) Hospital, Ondo, in 1982.
From late-1983 to 1984, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko had his initial taste of private medical practice by working at different times as a Medical Officer at Apagun Clinic, Yaba, Lagos; and as Acting Medical Director, Alleluyah Hospital, Oshodi, Lagos. He returned to public service for another year between April 1984 and February 1985 (again with the Ondo State Health Management Board) before finally going into full private medical practice with the setting up of the Mona Mediclinic with headquarters in Ondo Town, Ondo State. During his private practice, people trooped to his hospital for treatment, and at a point, his clinic was like a charity home.
How then did a medical doctor so good with his work decide to veer into politics? His political activities date back to his undergraduate days as a medical student at the then University of Ife, in the late 1970s and early 1980. People knew him more with symposia and student union activism while he was in university. His last two years in the university, in particular, were filled with activism. So powerful was he that he made a Student Union President in his room at Ife then. He was the one who packaged Wole Olaoye to become president of the student union as he(Mimiko) was his campaign manager. So, he came from that tradition of activism and he was able to blend it with Medicine.
Olusegun Mimiko was at various times a member of the Students’ Representatives Council (Parliament), 1975/76, and chairman of its Special Honours Committee. For a period in 1976, he was elected chairman of the council. Outside the union legislative house, he served on the University of Ife students’ union electoral commission, 1976/77. He was the public relations official of the International Students’ Association of the university between 1977 and 1978.
After graduation Dr. Olusegun Mimiko moved up from a student union activist to find political expression and identity in the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. After his return from the National Youth Service scheme, he took up membership of the party. As a budding politician, he served as the publicity secretary of the Ondo local government chapter of the UPN in 1983. The internal crises which be-devilled the UPN and the politics of the era dragged on to the 1983 general elections. This could not stop Dr. Mimiko and douse his in-born passion for social change. This cohered with the concern of 3 budding intellectuals ensconced in two Nigeria universities; themselves accomplished individuals today, Professor Femi Mimiko, Dr. Rotimi Adelola (Ondo State’s current Secretary to the State Government) and Engr. Wole Akinjo, on the need for some form of intervention and departure from this growing tendency at demonizing politics. They vigorously engaged with the idea of getting concerned elements to continually brainstorm on ways to improve on the politics and governance in the Nigerian society.
Late in 1987, this idea led to the emergence of the Ondo Study Group (OSG) over which he presided. After an extensive review of its political mobilization effort in 1988, the OSG General Assembly enjoined full participation of its member in politics. Dr. Olusegun Mimiko took a lead on this initiative. He was supported by the Group to run for office as chairman of the former Ondo Local Government (now Ondo East and West LGAs) in 1990 under the aegis of the newly formed Social Democratic Party (SDP). While that early effort did not achieve its specific objective, it marked the transformation of Dr. Mimiko into a full-fledged politician. He was later to serve as an ex-officio member of the SDP Executive Council in Ondo Local Government Area and as a member of the party’s Disciplinary Committee.
OSG soon found rewarding relevance in the campaign organisation of Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua who was bidding for the government seat on Ondo State under the SDP. Before long, Evangelist Olumilua saw the talent in the energetic Dr. Olusegun Mimiko and appointed him the honorable health commissioner in 1992. By the time he was leaving office in late 1993 as a result o the military coup d’etat that terminated that republic, Dr. Mimiko had left his mark as a performer. This first tour of duty as a public official was a great opportunity for Dr. Mimiko to demonstrate the stuff of which he was made. It set the tone for a distinguished career in politics the continuation of which is his swearing-in as the fifth elected Governor of the Sunshine State.
In recognition of his extensive contribution to the victory of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the 1999 governorship election in Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko was appointed as the honorable Commissioner for Health in the state, making the second time he would hold that office. Before he resigned from that position on 7th November 2002, he had greatly enhanced the quality of health care delivery in the state. On 7th November 2002, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko resigned his appointment as State Commissioner for Health, ‘for strictly personal reasons’ in the conviction that he would be in a better position to facilitate increased quality of governance in Ondo State. In response to the call across the state to join the gubernatorial race, he formally announced his intention to contest the governorship election on the platform of AD on Tuesday, 19th November 2002, at a press conference in Akure. He insisted that for Ondo State, there certainly were brighter days ahead. That was the cliche that defined his campaign organisation – the Brighter Days Network.
Dr. Olusegun Mimiko later left AD over issues centred on irregularities on gubernatorial candidate. He then adopted the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) of those early years as a preferred platform for the continuing struggle to enthrone good governance in Ondo State. After the victory of the party in April 2003 polls, he was appointed Secretary to the State Government (SSG), a position he occupied till July 2005 when he was appointed by then president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as Minister of Housing and Urban Development. It was from that position he resigned on 8th December 2006 to enable him offer himself once again for higher service to Ondo State as Governorship candidate in the April 2007 election. This was under the auspices of the Labour Party which he formally presented to the people of the state at City Hall, Akure, on 14th December 2006.
Over the years, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko has authored many research papers and published articles focusing on issues as wide-ranging as medicine, international relations and national socio-political developmental strategies. For leisure, Dr. Mimiko engages in writing and reading. Way back in 1971, the young Olusegun had won the John F. Kennedy Essay (School Level) Award, underscoring his creative capabilities. He is also a farmer and an environmentalist with an abiding love for flowers and plantations. He is also a lover of exquisite art works. An administrator and record-maker per excellence, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko has won several awards in recognition of his excellent performance in public office and communal engagement. Dr. Olusegun Mimiko is happily married to Mrs Olukemi Mimiko, a virtuous woman who has greatly supported her husband. Together, His Excellency Dr Olusegun Mimiko and Her Excellency Mrs Olukemi Mimiko are blessed with adorable children.
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