March 02, (THEWILL) – President Bola Tinubu is frustrated with the turn of events at his home state’s Lagos State House of Assembly, THEWILL can report and has asked Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who he believes orchestrated the ouster of Hon. Mudashiru Obasa as Speaker, to get him reinstated. The problem however appears to be that neither Sanwo-Olu, some influential members of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) nor the majority of the elected members of the Assembly are keen on seeing Obasa return to the office of Speaker despite the president’s directive that he should be restored to office and allowed to resign voluntarily.
Political leaders including the governor and the leadership of the GAC according to findings have expressed their displeasure to the President about the impeached speaker’s highhandedness and disrespect for the office of the governor, members of his cabinet, party leaders as well as elected members of the state assembly. This appeared not to bother Obasa as he did not make amends.
“The president is very upset about this matter. He is even more upset that he had no idea that they had planned to remove Obasa without getting his approval. Even more upsetting for him was that the coupists waited for the President to be on ground in Abu Dhabi on an official trip when they sacked Obasa. The fact of the matter is that no one trusts that Obasa will resign when reinstated and clearly he is saying this to his supporters. The worry is that they know he is a very vindictive person so allowing him back as Speaker is akin to inflicting serious injury on oneself,” a person familiar with the powerplay told THEWILL anonymously.
THEWILL reports that this standoff has led to the crisis and commotion that have engulfed the Lagos State House of Assembly despite multiple efforts by leaders to restore peace.
However, by fixing March 7, 2025, as the date for hearing in a suit filed by the impeached Speaker, a Lagos State High Court, sitting in Ikeja, at the weekend poured water on the blind rage that had run wild the previous day, a Thursday.
On that day, Obasa, in company with the police, invaded the House of Assembly Complex, broke into the Speaker Rt. Hon. Mojisola Lesbat Meranda’s office and took over the day’s session with only four members in attendance. Security operatives had allegedly forced open the chamber doors and granted Obasa and his loyalists access.
“I have resumed and I remain the Speaker of the Assembly,” he declared before journalists later. When asked whether he had been reinstated, Obasa dismissed suggestions that he was ever lawfully removed.
“Impeachment or removal is a democratic and constitutional process, but it must follow due process. I am not against it, but if it is not done properly, then it is illegitimate,” he stated. The plenary was however boycotted by 35 lawmakers in what appeared to be a show of support for the substantive Speaker, Mojisola Meranda.
Apart from presiding over a rump assembly, Obasa also wrote and signed a statement of apology to security agencies over a recent assault by the staff of the Assembly. “On behalf of the Lagos State House of Assembly, I hereby apologise to the security agencies, for the embarrassment caused them and, in particular the assault on security operatives of the DSS as widely circulated in videos…,” he wrote on a letterhead which he signed as Speaker. He praised them for always responding to calls for protection of lives and property and pleaded on behalf of those who have been charged to court on the matter.
For the embattled former Speaker, who was appearing in the House for the first time since January when he was impeached by a majority of lawmakers over allegations of gross misconduct and abuse of office, Justice Yetunde Rukayat Pinheiro’s ruling in an application which granted members of the assembly loyal to Speaker Meranda to be joined as defendants in his suit, turned the tide in a looming anarchy that hung over Lagos, the economic nerve of the country.
Making appearances for Speaker Meranda on Friday, were counsels led by Prof. Tayo Oyetibo (SAN). Appearing for the State Assembly were Mr. Olu Daramola (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana (SAN); Dr. Muiz Banire (SAN); Mrs Abimbola Akeredolu (SAN); Dr. Dada Awosika (SAN); Prof. Dayo Amokaye (SAN); Mr. Mofe Oyetibo (SAN); Mr. Olumide Oyewole and Mr. Wunmi Okeremi.
But Justice Pinheiro refused to grant their request for accelerated hearing of the suit, forcing the majority lawmakers to return to the Assembly complex for an inspection of the premises and then adjourned indefinitely.
Speaker Meranda described Obasa’s plenary with four members as a “show of shame,” and denied reports that she was thinking of resigning for Obasa, describing the former Speaker as “a joker.’’
“This matter is a little bit complex and as an insider I do not want to say anything further than what I wrote on my Facebook wall.” Mr Joe Igbokwe, a chieftain of the APC in Lagos State, told THEWILL at the weekend when he was asked to expiate on his earlier remark on the event.
Alarmed at the drama that unfolded that day, Igbokwe had taken to his Facebook wall to lament, thus; “What is happening in Lagos I know very well? What is happening in the Centre of Excellence? Who is driving this change of musical chairs? When elders are not at home children may wear snakes as necklaces. If you call your boat a useless boat children will use it to play football. I am stunned into disbelief. Unless this is not Lagos I know very well.”
IMAGE PROBLEM
Indeed, what is happening in the economic capital of the country? Who is driving this change of musical chairs that started as a local political event on January 13 when the 35 out of 40 members of the House of Assembly impeached Obasa, but it is now assuming a national dimension with the involvement, first of the Department of State Security, DSS and then the police. The DSS had responded to an invitation from the Clerk of the House who feared that Obasa had planned to resume in office on February 18, 2025, as the Speaker, thereby posing a potential security threat to the assembly and its members.
The impeached Speaker, however, made good his bid on February 27, 2024, with his security detail, who allegedly forced open the chamber’s doors for him and his supporters to gain access. This invasion happened on a day, “all the police officers and other security details attached to Speaker were withdrawn,” according to her spokesperson, Ganzallo Victor.
A few minutes after the contest of wills between impeached Speaker Obasa and his successor, Meranda, beamed on live television to homes and offices across Nigeria, subsided, the police restored her security details.
THEWILL learnt that the incident jolted the majority members and Speaker Meranda so much that they feared for their lives like “people abandoned to their fate,” as a legislative aide confided in this newspaper. Even when the Police eventually restored the Speaker’s security details, the members had to act swiftly to maintain their ranks. Hence the decision to join the suit instituted by the impeached Speaker challenging the legality of his impeachment.
Within hours of arriving at that decision to be joined in the impeached Speakers suit, the members contacted their legal counsels, namely, Prof Oyetibo, SAN, Mr. Falana, SAN, Daramola, SAN, Dr Banire, SAN, Mrs Akeredolu SAN, Dr Awosika, SAN, Prof. Amokaye, SAN, Mr. Mofe Oyetibo, SAN, Mr. Oyewole and Mr. Okeremi.
Hon. Meranda, who confirmed that her initially withdrawn security detail had been restored, disclosed that it was a sharp contrast to the usual level of protection she received.
She said, “At present, I have three or four policemen, whereas my normal security details are 12 policemen, four DSS, and two anti-bomb units. But I don’t have up to that now”.
Addressing this security issue, the Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Moshood Jimoh, said the police on that fateful Thursday carried out an audit of policemen, firearms and crime-fighting equipment nationwide, hence the Meranda security details were temporarily withdrawn.
He said, “As we speak, other police commands across the country are conducting similar audits without any issues. The ongoing audit has been in progress for several days, with prominent individuals complying. It is not targeted at any specific person or group.”
Jimoh said Obasa had recently applied for police protection due to threats against his life and family, which was approved, adding that the Command was unaware of how or when the Speaker’s office at the House of Assembly was broken into.
“The command remains neutral in the matter and committed to ensuring law, order, and public safety throughout Lagos,” he said, adding that the police presence at the Assembly complex was reinforced with additional Mobile Force Units, Counter-Terrorism Units and Special Protection Units.
But questions that arise from this obvious security lapse are these: Why did Obasa choose to invade the Assembly on such a day the police carried out its security audit? How was it that he had full compliments of his security details on a day those of the Speaker were withdrawn? Couldn’t the police details attached to Obasa report his movement to the Lagos Police Command.? Was the action of the police Command influenced by orders from ‘above’?
Efforts to get reactions from the Public Relations Officer of the Command in Lagos, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin failed. He responded to greetings on his WhatsApp page but declined to respond to the above questions.
Checks, however, show that considering his social status, Obasa is yet to lose his political leverage in the Assembly.
What about the role of Governor Banbajide Sanwo-Olu as chief security officer of the state? A dependable government official told THEWILL on Saturday, on the condition of anonymity, that the Assembly leadership crisis was not directly impacting governance in the state and pleaded that the governor be left out of the crisis.
“Even at the National Assembly, don’t they throw chairs and fight themselves? The Assembly is an arm of government. They should be able to disagree and agree. So, a family is quarrelling and you want the landlord to come in. They have gone to court. We are very busy. Yesterday we went on inspection, every arm of government has its function. Beginning from next week, we are commissioning many schools in Lagos, so we have no time for what is going on in the Assembly.”
ENTER OBASA
Since becoming a lawmaker in 2007 and Speaker from 2015 till January this year when he was impeached, Obasa had acquired much political capital and membership of the inner caucus of President Bola Tinubu, during whose second tenure as governor in Lagos State the impeached speaker was first elected into the House of Assembly to represent Agege Constituency 1.
By his admission at the weekend, the 52-year-old Obasa said that much. He disclosed that he has been, “following this man, (President Tinubu) since I just left secondary school. I have pictures to prove this,” and taunted those who are, “just realizing that now,” and “have not been part of us from the genesis,” have lost out. It is this connection, his loyalty, that made him stay for almost 10 years on the saddle as Speaker of the Assembly. Having seen Speakers of Houses of Assembly come and go nationwide, he had also had a sort of national pool of comradeship.
He was said to have put his clout to good use during the 2023 electioneering by securing the commitments of Speakers in the country to work for the success of the President Tinubu. Though, at the weekend, he was vague about nursing any governorship ambition, even though, he said, “he was qualified,” he is said to have been flaunting his closeness to the President and social status in the face of stakeholders in the state, including Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, member of the Governance Advisory Council, GAC, the influential and highest decision making organ in the state, that everyone is reluctant to stand by him now.
Even the President is said to have been swayed by reports that his protégé has overreached himself.
A prominent chieftain of the APC in Lagos State, Fouad Oki, who said that the impeachment of Obasa as the speaker was in the best interests of the state, disclosed that Tinubu tried to resolve the crisis in the state legislature.
He said that in the wisdom of members of the GAC, the President’s attention was called to the festering crisis in the Assembly. “The President, as father and leader, called a meeting wherein he tried to make a sense out of the observations raised by elders of the party. Unfortunately, the President saw by himself a recalcitrant Obasa. I think that is what broke the camel’s back.”
A constitutional lawyer, Liborous Oshioma, however expressed doubts that Obasa was acting alone. “I can tell that if Obasa is not enjoying the backing of Abuja, he would not be doing what he is doing. How can the police claim that it had not enough police to give to the Speaker but had to give to Obasa. The thing is simple; the law is the law. If the majority of members decide on who they want as Speaker that ends it.”
Still, Obasa has refused to back down. Although he was said to have been promised some form of ‘soft landing’, he is yet to get used to the idea that power as he once knew it, has slipped from his hands. Nonetheless, his defiance has polarised groups in the state to the point that a separate mediation team led by former National Chairman of the APC, Bisi Akande has been drafted to mediate.
For one, the GAC, comprising ex-governors, serving and former Senators, former deputy governors and other APC leaders, across the 20 local government areas of the state and 37 local council development areas, are divided for and against Obasa. In fact, two members, Chief Muraina Taiwo and Senator Anthony Adefuye have taken side with Obasa, speaking publicly against what they considered the faulty process of his impeachment.
Moreover, the ongoing Assembly leadership impasse has introduced ethnic colouration into the ongoing fiasco because Meranda is a Lagosian as against Obasa, said to be from Ogun State. For this, many Lagos indigenes who have been campaigning for their turn in the top political positions in the state are asking Meranda not to resign.
APC LEADERS, OBASA MEET, FAULT LAWMAKERS’ ACTION
At a meeting to review recent political issues and developments within the party in the state, some party chieftains have reaffirmed their loyalty and support to the political legacies of President Tinubu.
The meeting which took place at the weekend had Obasa in attendance as well as some GAC members. They are Cardinal James Omolaja Odunmbaku, Senator Anthony Adefuye, Chief Muraina Taiwo, Senator Ganiyu Olanrewaju Solomon, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, Hon Monsuru Owolabi, Hon. Kolawole Taiwo, Hon. Lanre Ogunyemi and Hon. Johnson Babatunde.
The chieftains observed that the unity, peace and political stability in the party and the state built over the years by the President is a legacy that must be sustained and respected by all loyal party members in the state.
The leaders assessed the crisis rocking the Assembly and criticised the action carried out by its members without recourse to the President, the party and other political leaders. They advised the Assembly members to commit themselves to party discipline and respect the party leadership as epitomised by President Tinubu, as anything to the contrary would amount to disloyalty to the party and disregard for the political system and legacy that produced them.
The leaders concluded that they would vigorously campaign and massively mobilise the Nigerian electorate for President Tinubu’s second term in office.
2027 CONNECTION
Given the recent mobilisation of opposition, particularly from the North, against the President ahead of the 2027 polls, there is palpable fear that the lingering Assembly leadership crisis must be resolved fast to safeguard what sources call the “president’s backyard and prevent enemies fishing in troubled waters.” Though they say that the dynamics has changed with the President now in power, they recall that the President lost the state to the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi in the 2023 general election and that allowing the Assembly crisis to drag for too long would be bad optics for him.
Addressing this seeming helplessness of stakeholders at the weekend, Prince Tajudeen Olusi, the Chairman, GAC, said neither the council nor the party in the state was consulted before Obasa was removed as the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
He said that the council should not be dragged into the leadership crisis that led to the removal of Obasa and his replacement by the Deputy Speaker, Mrs Mojisola Meranda.
“We invited all of them and insisted that all of them are products of the party. They lodged their complaints and we listened to them. I blamed them for one thing and that is for not lodging the complaints earlier before the party.
“It is for the party to decide, they (lawmakers) have no absolute power to remove and install their leaders. Nobody can become a member of the House of Assembly unless sponsored by a political party and the sponsors are the inspectors.” He said no organ of government was totally independent of the other, adding that the party, GAC and another high-powered committee set up was working tirelessly to resolve the dispute.
That high-powered committee of the party is led by Chief Bisi Akande with members like Aremo Olusegun Osoba, and former APC National Vice Chairman, South-west, Chief Pius Akinyelure and others.
“They are working and making efforts to resolve the matter. I know they are in consultation with the House of Assembly, Obasa and the other Speaker, Mrs Mojisola Lasbat Meranda.
“Those of us in the GAC and the Chairman of the Party, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi are doing all within our power to assist the committee,” he added.
Meranda agreed that the party leadership was taking the necessary steps to resolve the speakership tussle.
“We are definitely consulting with our leaders and all the rightful things will be done at the right time. Let us assure the people of Lagos that we are still committed to our party. We are still committed to our leadership and we are still committed to serving the people of Lagos State. That is what is more important,” she said.
Constitutional lawyer, Oshioma said the Constitution should be allowed to take its course. “Section 92 of the Constitution is very clear. It should be allowed to operate or else there will be chaos and it can set a bad precedent for similar cases in years to come.”
Sub-section 1 of that part of the Constitution says: “There shall be a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of a House of Assembly who shall be elected by the members of the House from among themselves.”
He said he understood that political arrangements involving balancing on the three senatorial zones were part of the problem but argued that openly flouting constitutional provisions was undemocratic and a call to self-help.
Amos Esele is the Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
