Drama as Senate gets report on Boroffice’s sack

By Taiwo Adisa and Adesanmi

Prof. Ajayi Boroffice

There was drama at the Senate, on Tuesday, as the senators received the report of its Ethics  and Privileges Committee, which recommended the sack of Senator Robert Ajayi Boroffice from the chamber on grounds of his defection from Labour Party (LP) to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
The Senate committee had investigated the circumstances surrounding Senator Boroffice’s defection, especially as there was no evidence of division in the LP, which sponsored him to the Senate and recommended his removal from the chamber in line with Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution.
But there was a drama  on the floor when the Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, called for the submission of the report, as  Senator Femi Lanlehin, a member of the ACN from Oyo State, raised Order 96(4)(a) to object to the report.
Senator Lanlehin said that he was not aware of any petition before the Senate in respect of Boroffice’s defection and that the report did not follow laid down procedure.
He also mentioned Order 21 and Orders 41, (1,2,3) to back up his claim that the petition was faulty.
But Senate President David Mark, who presided over the sitting, corrected him by saying that the petition followed the due process.
Mark said: “This was a petition that was written to me and I referred it to the Ethics Committee. If the Senate does not want to discuss it, I have no problem, but I will act based on the report submitted to me by the committee. I have no problem with that. But they wrote a petition to me and because it affects a senator, I referred it the Ethics Committee.”
Chairman, Senate Committee on Ethics and Public Petitions, Senator Ayo Akinyelure, then moved the motion to lay the report on the table.
But more drama ensued when Mark asked Lanlehin to second the motion to lay the report on the table.
Lanlehin said that he would not second the motion, because it would mean that he was supporting the report.
Mark, however, insisted that Senator Lanlehin must support the motion.
Senator Lanlehin said: “I don’t believe the essence of that motion. I don’t intend to give credence to it. Therefore, with the greatest amount of respect, your excellency, I decline to second it.”
LibertyReport