Senator Borrofice and the burden of uniting, leading Ondo APC to victory
Senator Robert Ajayi Borrofice’s transition from an academia to a political juggernaut is worthy of being documented in a book and recommended to be studied by the young and old generation.
It has not been a rosy ride for the ranking Senator who represents Ondo North Senatorial district at the Senate, but like the biblical saying that “many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord
The story of his first and second election to the Senate may have become history, but not many will forget in a hurry how he fought back his way to the Senate for a third term despite orchestration and direct state-sponsored opposition by leaders and members of his All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo state. Still, he rise, like an eagle flying in the storm, he rises above the storm to the amazement of even his persecutors.
His affinity with the grassroots and his many impacting programmes in the lives of his constituents before and after becoming a Senator have been identified as the secret of his high flying political history.
When many thought it was all over, the people and the people alone who own the mandate stood solidly behind their own and gave his their support to continue to represent them at the Senate. Not so many political leaders can boast of such support and love from their people. Borrofice earned it not by political abracadabra but through hard work, commitment and impactful representation.
These people are not aliens, they are the beneficiaries of the vocational centres, cashew processing factory, gari processing factories, hospitals, training centres, event centres, renovation of palaces etc the Senator built.
They are the women who have been benefitting from the monthly empowerment programme of Borrofice, students receiving scholarship awards and youths taken off the street and given a means of livelihood.
Undeterred by the many pebbles thrown at him in his quest to give his people
A review of Borrofice’s record of political leadership spanning over a decade is, in part, a reminder of how much sacrifice and risk he has taken in his career to rise to his present height. Moving into the defunct ACN when the future was looking gloomy for the party in Ondo state, rallying members together to drive the party and position it to win elections and its metamorphosis into the APC. Not many would want to take some risk at the time Borrofice took them.
Now sitting atop as a principal officer in the Senate – Deputy Leader of the Senate, Borrofice has no doubt come a long way, he has earned the rank of a political leader and this informs why many hold him in high regard within and outside his ruling APC.
This is why he sacrificed his governorship ambition for the interest of the party at a time many pundits have said he is better positioned to be the next occupant of the Alagbaka government house judging by his pedigree and national influence in the party. But as a leader with the interest of the party and the people, Borrofice believes he should step aside and let others give it a shot.
Observers say the Deputy Senate Leader, with his position as the most experienced and senior party leader in Ondo state and one of the major leaders from the Southwest, is now working and setting machinery in motion for the success of the APC in the Ondo 2020 gubernatorial election.
He was recently quoted to have said, at an empowerment programme in Akure that the Unity group, which he is a staunch member, will present a consensus governorship aspirant for the party’s primaries.
Borrofice’s political status, even though he has always played the modesty card and does not like throwing himself up as a flamboyant leader, is seen as ammunition by skeptics who see him as a threat to their shenanigans.
Well, pundits have argued that despite being from the Northern district, people from the Central and Southern districts are very fond of Borrofice and more willing to follow any path he charts for the 2020 election.
On his shoulder lies the burden to unite the party and reposition it for the coming election to avoid the errors of the 2019 general elections which saw the party losing legislative seats to the PDP, no thanks to the division and bickering among the members of the party.
Many are looking up to the Deputy Senate Leader to take up this responsibility leadership has placed on him and save the soul of the party.