Date: 2016-07-21

*The crisis of confidence in the Senate is far from being over.

A member of the Unity Forum – a group of senators opposed to the emergence of Senate President Bukola Saraki and his deputy Ike Ekweremadu - yesterday vowed to continue the fight to "restore the integrity of the Senate".

Senator Ajayi Boroffice (Ondo North), who spoke to reporters after picking the All Progressives Congress (APC) nomination form to contest the Ondo State governorship primary, said they will not rest until the integrity of the Senate is restored.

Boroffice said their fight against the Senate leadership was based purely on principle and not because of hatred for anybody, adding that his group would continue to "fight to ensure that the image of the Senate is redeemed".

He said: "I am one of those people who went to court to challenge the election of the Senate's principal officers and I maintain that we have done that on principle not because we hate anybody. We want to defend the integrity of the senate and the sanctity of the rule of law.

"So, it is not that we are not all working in the same direction. Some of us are speaking out and I hope that you reporters will give expression to our voices when we speak out. "I can assure you that we will not be intimidated. We will continue to fight to ensure that the image of the senate is redeemed so that any senator in Nigeria can raise his head anywhere in the world and describe himself as a senator."

Speaking on the raging controversy and agitation for restructuring of the country, he said: "I pray that we have enough time during the life span of this senate to send the amendment to the constitution to Mr. President for his assent. "If you look at it, you will see that we are already restructuring the country with those amendments. Some of the things that they are in the exclusive list have been brought to the concurrent list and we are actually committed to true federalism and fiscal federalism.

"Some of us are in support of the State police, even though we know it is subject to misuse. We believe that certain items that are now in the exclusive list should be transferred to the state. "So we are doing something about it. We are not making noise about it and by the time we get this amendment through, many Nigerians will know we have done a good job not only in terms of structure but in the area of revenue allocation."

He said Ondo state should be one of the best in terms of economic vibrancy because it is an oil producing state and has second largest deposits of bitumen in the World. "It has natural resources like cocoa, palm oil and coal. But all these remain untapped. If well-harnessed, it will boost the state's economy. We need someone knowledgeable that can help to create jobs and ease our ailing economy.

"We have ceramic, rubber, wood industries that are all dead. If we revive them we will not need to depend on the government. We will plug all leakages and develop a very vibrant economy. "We will run a knowledge-driven economy. We must make sure Nigerians pay their taxes. There are countries that have no natural resource and are doing very well".