Why off-cycle guber election holds in Ondo

General election was held in all the 36 states of Nigeria in 1999 as the country returned to civil rule. Successful gubernatorial candidates in the election were sworn into office on May 29 of that year, like the President that was voted into power in the Presidential election. It was not envisaged that there would be any alteration along the line.

Ondo was one of the 36 states where the election was held in 1999, but along the line, in 2009, there was a court verdict that sacked the then governor, the late Segun Agagu.

Today, Ondo is among other seven states where off-cycle gubernatorial election is held. Other states are Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Kogi, Osun and Imo.

In the 2007 Ondo governorship election, Agagu was the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) while Olusegun Mimiko was of the Labour Party.

Agagu was contesting for a second term in office as he was already a governor.

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In the election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Agagu as the winner having polled 349,258 votes against Mimiko’s 226,021.

Mimiko however, flatly rejected the declared result and alleged that there were manipulations. He went ahead to challenge result before an election tribunal.

Although the case was at the tribunal, Agagu was sworn in for his second term as state governor.

On July 25, 2008, over a year after the poll, the tribunal, led by Justice Garba Nabaruma, nullified Agagu’s election and declared Mimiko the winner of the April 14 governorship election in Ondo.

The tribunal held that Mimiko won valid votes in 12 out of 18 LGAs in the state. The electoral panel declared that Agagu’s valid votes were 128,669 and recalculated Mimiko’s to 198,269.

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On February 23, 2009, seven months later, a court of appeal in Benin, Edo state, upheld the election tribunal’s verdict.

Appeal Court ruling, Agagu had to step down after spending two years of the fresh mandate. Mimiko was sworn in a day after the court of appeals verdict.

In line with the Nigerian 1999 Constitution (as amended), the tenure of every governor is four years, and Mimiko’s tenure began in 2009, two years after most of his colleagues had been in office.

Mimiko held the position for another four years following his re-election. He left office in 2017.

Since then, the Ondo governorship election always comes a year and some months after the general election.Ondo was one of the 36 states where the election was held in 1999, but along the line, in 2009, there was a court verdict that sacked the then governor, the late Segun Agagu.Ondo was one of the 36 states where the election was held in 1999, but along the line, in 2009, there was a court verdict that sacked the then governor, the late Segun Agagu.