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By Funsho Arogundade
On Monday June 16, Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa marked a decade of being Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, making him the longest-serving in the history of the Assembly. During a plenary, Obasa was serenaded and applauded by his colleagues in Nigeria’s foremost House of Assembly. They rose to trumpet his achievements, legislative depth, strategic foresight, and firm protection of institutional integrity in the last decade, concurring that it is no easy feat serving as a speaker for this long, especially within the challenging political landscape of Lagos State. They noted that since the eighth Assembly when Obasa first became Speaker —he was elected on Monday, June 8, 2015— Lagos has made giant breakthroughs, including the establishment of the Neighbourhood Safety Corps —a state security outfit whose bill was sponsored by Obasa— and the Cancer Institute Law alongside the Anti-kidnapping law of Lagos State, describing them as the result of the Speaker’s love for Lagos. Despite a slight bump in the road —his temporary removal last January— Obasa’s reinstatement in March and the plethora of robust testimonials of his leadership underscore his popularity among members.
In 1999, Obasa contested and won a councillor position under the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Agege LGA. He described his victory in that election as the turning point in his political career, and in 2003, he took his political ambition to the state assembly at the age of 31 as the member representing Agege Constituency 1. In his sixth term as a legislator, Obasa has become a steady and stabilising legislative force. He is a loyal party man and core loyalist of President Bola Tinubu.
Obasa’s activities outside the House are remarkable. Agege, his constituency, hitherto a boisterous, chaotic, seedy community, has witnessed rapid infrastructural development comparable to any developed Nigerian city. Obasa would, by 2027, become arguably the longest-serving state legislator in the country and the longest-serving Speaker of the Lagos State Assembly.
