IT is appalling and sickening, considering the amount of deceit, propaganda and sloganeering that have taken the front burner in place of actual and good governance in Ondo State. It is unfortunate that it has come to this regrettable and ugly level while the future of the state is at stake. Honestly and without sentiments, since Governor Olusegun Mimiko assumed office, I can’t see indices of development at play. It is not that I’m blind, I can’t just see them.

However, I am not at all surprised at this ugly show of lack of focus. The unreliability of the political antecedents of Mimiko have confirmed in no small measure there is no one who treads unstable and unreliable political path and perhaps plays diabolic would make a good leader, capable of elementary transformation of the society.

Why? Personal ambition is always the overriding factor . Such people obviously ply their trade on the principle of pick and dump; no one is trusted and every other person is seen as an enemy and a threat. In most cases they don’t even trust themselves.

They switch camp at will like a harlot who sleeps with anyone whose pocket is right. This is exactly what Mimiko has reduced governance to in Ondo, for that inordinate ambition to be realised and sustained.

I have waited this long, thinking a plan of action would be put in place. The picture now is that there is no plan, no roadmap not even a target to give some level of confidence that the government would deliver in future.

This is quite unfortunate. All you get to hear daily does not go beyond fanfare of those decamping from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the ruling Labour Party, LP. And yet this is celebrated to high heavens.

My heart bleeds on account of this. I want to believe those who are genuinely interested in the development of Ondo would equally be worried. For goodness sake, people of Ondo are waiting for when their turn would come for those roads to their villages to be tarred. When will jobs be provided as well as when the health centres would become functional again, no thanks to the Mother and Child Hospital in Akure. Better still, when will the millennium school be ready?

Part of this deceit came to the fore a few weeks ago when members of the State Assembly, led by the Speaker, Samuel Adesina, even though they have willingly surrendered their mandate to the Governor; and in their sycophancy, referred to Governor Mimiko as a comrade. He was expected to declare open the South West Speakers’ Conference held in Akure.

This is the height of ‘eye-service’, which does not add any value to anybody. Yes, he is the arrow head of LP, being the only governor produced by the party. The truth of the matter is, that you belong to LP doesn’t make you a comrade. No doubt, you have the right to be called any name, it is annoying the type of politics of deception being played in the state.

This won’t take the state anywhere. Let the truth be told, Gov. Mimiko does have credible political history behind him. He was never an activist save when he was an official of the University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University Students Union.

Suffice to go down the memory lane that this government is only building a kite in the sky. In 1978, Gov. Mimiko began his political journey as one of the young Turks of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN. The late Chief Adekunle Ajasin was the flag bearer of the party. The election held , he won and he became the governor in 1979. Then came the issue of second term.

It was resolved at the party caucus that all the UPN first term governors should go for second term. It was adopted and sealed. However, the young ones in the party, led by Akin Omoboriowo, backed by Gov. Mimiko and co would not let this be. Since they could not actualise their ambition, they all decamped to the defunct National Party of Nigeria, NPN.

The election for second term was held and amid serious controversy and massive rigging that swept through the nation in 1983, Omoboriowo was declared winner ahead of Baba Ajasin. Baba Ajasin contested the election at the tribunal and won. Though that administration was cut short by the military coup of 1983, it took the magnanimity of Baba Ajasin for Mimiko to be readmitted into the UPN. This seed of rebellion has been there for so long.

Then came what could be referred to as the Third Republic in which civilian administration had taken effect in the states in 1993 with the defunct Social Democratic Party, SDP, winning most states, including the South West. The SDP administration in Ondo was led by Evangelist Bamidele Olumilua and Mimiko was appointed Commissioner for Health. The government never lasted long enough for that seed of disloyalty to manifest.

Thereafter, 1989 came and Alliance for Democracy, AD, became the party of the South West, Ondo not being an exception. The thinking then was that it was an off-shoot of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s party, the UPN. Naturally majority of the people moved into the party. The late Chief Adebayo Adefarati was the gubernatorial candidate of the party and he won. Again Mimiko was appointed the Health Commissioner.

But there was a twist towards the end of that administration as that spirit to always rebel reared its ugly head particularly when Mimiko was said to have been zoned out to contest the gubernatorial primaries of AD. Even before the administration came to an end, Mimiko had started romancing PDP.

Mr. Aminu is the Chief -Sub editor of Vanguard Newspapers.