No respite for Obasa as assembly workers pledge loyalty to new Lagos speaker

•GAC holds meeting with Meranda, others

By Lukman Olabiyi

Mudashiru Obasa’s hope of returning as Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, has dimmed with more stakeholders pledging allegiance to Mojisola Meranda.

The latest to pledge loyalty to the new speaker are the Assembly staff.

The group gave Meranda a rousing welcome to the Assembly complex, yesterday, and also declared their unalloyed support. 

The former speaker, Obasa, who represents Agege constituency, was removed on January 13 over allegations of gross misconduct and abuse of office while he was away in the US. But on his return, he held a press conference where he insisted that his removal did not follow due process.

Since he was removed, many stakeholders, including the apex body in the All Progressive Congress (APC) and Governance Advisory Council (GAC) have continued to pledge support for Meranda. However, some members of GAC are not comfortable with the emergence of Meranda due to the constituency she represents – Central senatorial district. They argued that since the governor is from a senatorial district, it would amount to injustice to other districts.

As at the time of filing the report, GAC was meeting at the Lagos House in Marina. According to a source,  top on the agenda of the meeting is the issue of zoning which they are trying to resolve.

The new speaker along with some members of the House have also joined the meeting. Its outcome will determine where the pendulum will swing.

Meanwhile, members of the House have denied knowledge of any directive from President Bola Tinubu to reinstate Obasa, saying the former leader of the assembly must be daydreaming.

The denial followed a report by an online news medium, which claimed that President Tinubu had ordered members of the Assembly to allow Obasa to return as speaker.

It claimed the lawmakers should be prepared to return Obasa because the political price for his removal could potentially outweigh the benefits of punishing his excesses, which it stated, bordered largely on corruption and abuse of office.