From Ismail Omipidan, Abuja
The alleged move by President Bola Tinubu to return impeached Speaker Mudashiru Obasa, has met with resistance from both the lawmakers and some prominent Lagos elders, who are members of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Daily Sun gathered that the Monday meeting was inconclusive following the inability of the elders to arrive at a consensus over the leadership crisis in the Lagos State House of Assembly, a development that has divided the advisory body.
Sources close to the meeting told Daily Sun that some of the GAC members are rooting for the reinstatement of the impeached Speaker, but that majority of the elders are of the view that his removal should stand so as not create fresh bad blood among the lawmakers.
This is even as the 32 lawmakers, who elected the new Speaker, Mrs. Mojisola Meranda, have vehemently opposed the move to return the former Speaker as a presiding officer.
Although Obasa had claimed that due process was not followed in his “impeachment,” his colleagues had equally clarified that the constitution was not in any way breached in carrying out the impeachment exercise.
One of the elders of the party and a GAC member, told Daily Sun in confidence that President Tinubu holds the key to the resolution of the crisis.
According to the APC elder, for now, there is no final position yet, adding “there was a meeting. But, it was inconclusive. There is division. If the former Speaker had behaved well, we won’t be in this crisis.”
However, it was also gathered that concerns were raised about the selection of a new Speaker from Lagos Central Senatorial District, the same district as that of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, leaving Lagos West with nothing, considering that the Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, has since relocated his political base from Lagos West to Epe, in the Lagos East senatorial district.
But the above position was countered by another elder of the party who noted that the so called exclusion was necessitated by an exigency and that it was a non-issue, emphasising that “there is no complaint from the mass of Lagos West party members about Obasa’s removal.”
He further said the return of Obasa may lead to another round of crisis in the Lagos State House of Assembly as Obasa may want to seek vengeance against those who removed him.
“The members of the House of Assembly fear the implications and unintended consequences of returning Obasa to his former position. There is no crack in the House on this matter. They intend to forward their resolution to insist on Meranda to the party leadership,” the source revealed.
As at the time of filing this report, it is not clear if President Tinubu has finally dropped the idea of pushing for the reinstatement of Obasa.