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 Daily
Independent Online.
* Tuesday, June 22, 2004.
Why the Senate cleared Borishade, by Mamora
By Habib Aruna
Assistant Political Editor, Lagos
Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora at
the weekend gave an insight into why the Senate had to shift ground to
reconsider the nomination of Dr. Babalola Aborishade as a minister.
Speaking at the Lagos East Constituency
Forum, a constituency meeting organised by Mamora to give account of his
one year representation of the district at the Senate, Mamora said the
senators were not unaware of the many problems the minister had with
interest groups, and what he described as the unconstitutionality of
President Olusegun Obasanjo’s insistence by re-nominating him a year
after the Senate had rejected his nomination.
“When it was brought to us again, we said
okay let him go, because it was becoming as if Ekiti State was being
marginalised. It was a situation where we had little option”, said
Mamora, who also hinted that there was no petition against Borishade but
rather, the people of Ekiti State were writing the Senate to express
support for the minister.
At the forum attended by the Alliance for
Democracy (AD) leaders and other elected officials of the party, Mamora
expressed his profound gratitude to the party leaders for electing him to
be their representatives at the highest law-making body in the country,
adding that it is only proper for him to come back and give account of
his stewardship.
“I am your messenger, and if you have
given me a message to deliver, it is only ideal and proper for me to come
back and give account. This forum is an opportunity for me to give my
feed-back on the journey so far in the last one year”, he said.
Mamora lamented that coming
from a minority party, he has been prevented from moving motions on
crucial national issues. This, according to him, has impinged greatly on
his mission in Abuja. He disclosed that he and other AD senators are
working on the unfair deal the state is currently getting from the
Federal Government and vowed to pursue it to a logical conclusion.
“What I consider most crucial about my job
is the bill on fiscal federalism. We have about six seaports in Lagos,
what are we getting from them? We should get something in return because
the ports operations create some discomfort to the infrastructure of the
state,” he said.
Mamora, who is the chairman of the Senate
Committee on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, said he did
not regret the stand he took during the Senate debate on the imposition
of a state of emergency in Plateau State.
He said he was under intense pressure from
his colleagues but he vehemently stood his ground, because, according to
him, the imposition is contrary to the principles of the constitution.
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