Since January 13, 2025 when Rt. Hon. Mudasiru Obasa was removed as Speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly, LAHA, Lagosians and indeed Nigerians, have been treated to all manner of theatrics ranging from self-reinstatement plots by the deposed lawmaker to alleged superimposition by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the acclaimed godfather of the state’s politics.
It would be recalled that members of the Lagos State House of Assembly pushed Obasa out of his exalted office in absentia. He was in faraway United States of America on Christmas and new year break when 37 out of 40 lawmakers struck at his underbelly that Monday, January 13, 2025.
In his place, the lawmakers installed Rt. Hon. Mojisola Lasbat Meranda as the new Speaker.
It is apposite to restate that Obasa’s ouster was premised against a barrage of allegations including misconduct, highhandedness and misappropriation of funds allegedly running into billions of naira.
Also noteworthy was Obasa’s unparalleled disrespect for higher authorities in the history of Lagos politics. For instance, he delayed members of the Governor’s Advisory Council, GAC, Lagos State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and other party leaders but more importantly, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat and other State Executive Council Members for four hours before the 2025 budget could be presented to the legislators.
Worse still, during the 2025 budget presentation, Obasa had the temerity and audacity to claim that he was more qualified for the position of governor than all other previous occupiers of the office. Instructively, those who have governed the state since the return to democracy in 1999 were Senator Bola Tinubu (now president), Babatunde Fashola, senior advocate of Nigeria and Akinwunmi Ambode.
On his return to the country few days after his removal from office, Obasa insinuated that his colleagues did not follow due process in removing him and must return to the status quo ante. On another plane, he threatened fire and brimstones if he was not reinstated.
Thereafter, the embattled legislator petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, that members of LAHA broke into a government property (his office) to retrieve the mace. Consequently, some of the lawmakers were arrested and locked up by the Department of State Services, DSS.
Even, there were spurious reports engineered by the deposed lawmaker to the effect that President Tinubu has ordered his reinstatement despite the fact that all the critical power players in the state have endorsed his ouster.
We view all the ongoing shenanigans as undemocratic. Obasa should simply accept his self-inflicted misfortune and move on if he wants to remain politically relevant in the State of Aquatic Splendour, as Lagos is referred to. He should take a cue from his predecessors in office who have left in controversial circumstances and have gone into oblivion since.
Rather than constitute himself into a nuisance, Obasa should accept the change of Lagos Assembly leadership in good faith, or go to court to upturn his colleagues’ decision.
While everyone has the inalienable right to justice where he feels shortchanged, the brouhaha over the seat of numero un in LAHA must cease to enable the lawmakers to attend to matters of importance plaguing the state.
The ruling APC in the state also needs to rein in its members and desist from fanning the embers of discord. Even if there were lacunas in the removal process, party leaders and members must come to terms and accept the Assembly’s decision to replace Obasa as Speaker.
As Fouad Oki, a chieftain of the APC in Lagos State posited, the decision made by the Lagos legislature “has garnered significant support from various sectors of society, including traditional, social, and human rights communities” and that ignoring this sentiment could lead to political dangers that may jeopardize the party’s standing and unity.
LAHA members have effected a change of leadership. Now, all the stakeholders must navigate the waters with wisdom and tact.
“LAHA members have effected a change of leadership. Now, all the stakeholders must navigate the waters with wisdom and tact.”
Culled from New National Star.