Politics
Messy Lagos! Obasa’s fight back deepens assembly’s speakership crisis
Events from last week, Thursday, when two plenary sessions were held at the Lagos State House of Assembly, have shown that the last has not yet been heard about the crisis in the Assembly. With two sine die adjournment and pending court cases, it seems unlikely that they will reconvene very shortly.
What occurred when the Impeached Speaker, Hon. Mudasiru Obasa, stormed the State Assembly with a detachment of security agents in a show of power and forcefully gained entry into the main chamber to hold his plenary session with a handful of four lawmakers is a clear indication that powerful interests have become involved in the debacle.
This action by Obasa negated the position of the House of Assembly, when 36 of the 40 members had removed him as Speaker and elected Mojisola Meranda, as replacement, and showed that the House is still unsettled, an indication that the imbroglio may last for a long time. Before what many Lagosians described as a “show of shame” by Obasa, reports were rife that the security details of the new Speaker had been withdrawn, and that Obasa restored, which implicated the police and DSS, which was already an interested party, having earlier been involved in what it said was “an invitation by the Clerk of the Assembly to preserve peace,” but ended in a fracas with Assembly staff, who have now been charged for assault.
Everything about this crisis indicates that the All Progressives Congress (APC), and particularly President Bola Tinubu, may be losing control of its grip on the state and the unity of its members. In all this, the governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, seems to be caught in the crossfire, having initially supported the removal of Obasa but now having his back to the wall as his political father, Tinubu, appears to vaccinate between two options. First, he was said to have chastised Obasa for disrespecting the governor himself and leaders of the party, including the members of the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC. However, it was alleged that the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, was upset with the decision and wanted Obasa back, which complicated the situation. With the GAC unable to resolve the matter, as some members supported Obasa, external mediators, Pa Bisi Akande, former Osun State governor, and Chief Segun Osoba, Former Ogun State governor, and Akinwumi Ambode, former governor of Lagos, were draft by President Tinubu to intervene, because of the challenge of power zoning in the state, which the removal of Obasa had discarded. With the new Speaker, Meranda, both the governor and Speaker come from Lagos West, while Lagos Central, which Obasa represented, was excluded.
To resolve the knotty issue, it was decided by the three wise men that Meranda should step down to her former position as deputy Speaker to pave way for Lagos Central to fill the speakership.
This was in total disregard and disrespect to the Assembly and the Constitution, which empowers the action of the Assembly. So, the members rejected the resolution of the Elders and insisted on the validity of their actions.
It was also argued that the issue in the Assembly, which is the second since the beginning of this ongoing democracy in 1999, could be a big affront on President Tinubu, the party, the leaders, and elders if the 36 lawmakers eventually have their ways as against what was said to have been proposed by the presidency.
The first one is when he was the governor and the lawmakers loyal to late Funsho Williams plotted to undermine his government. But Tinubu, being a political master, acted with precaution to swayed the warring members to his side.
What he would make of this as the President of the country is being closely monitored as he is not the one directly involved and a man who would want to be seen to uphold the tenets of democracy and a father figure to all the groups concerned.
Majority of the law makers dismiss the zoning issue, saying that this does not matter to them proving that the State Assembly is an independent body that can determine what is suitable for it and what could sustain unity and good understanding amongst them, and do not want someone that would be imposed against the wishes of the majority.
However, the implications, which their stand portends, are still being studied by political observers and even members of the party, just as President Tinubu would want to be careful not to allow the matter to get out of hand.
What is bothering everyone is the attitude of Obasa and the ways he has been carrying himself since he was impeached and using the security operatives to intimidate his opponents in the State Assembly.
It was, however, insinuated that why Obasa, who has been an elected representative of the House since 2007, and Speaker since 2015, and who has remained the most favored member of the House, would still want to hang on to power, is because of the strong influence and backing from the First Lady.
One of the lawmakers loyal to Meranda pointed out that what Obasa exhibited reaffirmed their resolve not to welcome him back as the leader of the House.
He argued that he has justified all the reasons they gave for his impeachment, such as lateness to legislative functions and plenary, high-handedness and disregard for colleague lawmakers and the executive, especially the governor, abuse of office and privileges, intimidation and oppression of members among others. The legislator said, “as far as we are concerned, we can no more tolerate Obasa as Speaker, no matter where he derives his power from because he can’t be bigger than the rest of us, who are in the majority.”
To show the bitterness of the other 36 members who had declared votes of confidence in their new Speaker Meranda, twice, the first, when the DSS invaded the House by the invitation of the Clerk through Obasa, and she busted in to tears with emotion to thanked her colleagues, for the love shown her; while the other was on February 13.
The Chairman, House Committee on Information and Strategy, Hon. Steven Ogundipe, told journalists, “We were approached by our leaders that we should remain calm and take things easy. But we were surprised to see what was happening as Obasa invaded the Chamber with heavy security.
“We won’t take laws into our hands, just as we told the staff not to take laws into their hands. But we all belong to different constituencies, and we have our mandates. Whatever has happened, the leadership should speak with us and not this charade we are seeing.”
“We are not happy; we have been law-abiding. We have not gone out of our way against the state. We also want to be respected and to be given our dignity. To be shown that we are elected. I’m appealing to the leadership of our party that we cannot continue this way.”
According to a former Osun State Speaker for eight years, Amb. Adejare Bello, “I see the procedure of his impeachment as a misnomer because 2/3 two third majority is needed to carry such removal and once the two third majority is fulfilled and secured any speaker could be impeached. There is nothing wrong in the process; it was normal,” he said.
On if the 36 lawmakers were adamant and not willing to comply with the directives of the party leaders, asking Meranda to step aside, Ambassador Bello said “I think for the interest of the party and themselves as well they should obey the directives because they should realize that they were nominated and elected from their constituencies and if they don’t want to jeopardize their political career both now and in the future, the party must be obeyed”
“Again they should not be seen as trying to derail the peace, which has been existing in the House for a long time.”
He said the Lagos House of Assembly and even the state in general have been a leading and shining example, pointing out that during the law reforms, examples were taken from Lagos State.
“In some climes, some people would look at it that it was not important for Mr. President to take the position he took, asking the elders of the party like Chief Akande, Chief Osoba and Mr. Ambode to wade into the matter.
Don’t forget that these notable people were past governors , and this shows the importance that President
Tinubu is attached to the crisis in all the states and not only in Lagos alone.
“I commend President Tinubu for this, and if you noticed, he did the same thing in Rivers, where the ruling party is not even APC but PDP. If the people of Rivers had listened and not ignored his intervention, the situation would not have degenerated to what they are experiencing now.
They just did not allow the good intention and intervention of President Tinubu to work.”
One of the APC leaders in Lagos State, Babatunde Bank-Anthony, has called on President Tinubu to concentrate on more pressing matters concerning the whole nation rather than concentrating on the Lagos Assembly matters.
He faulted the attitudes of Obasa, who is trying to challenge his removal violently, saying that if he can not face reality and accept his fate, he should resign instead of causing more crises in the House, the party, and the State.
In the court hearing that took place on Friday, Obasa engaged the services of Afolabi Fashanu (SAN), while Mr. Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), is representing, Hon Mojisola Meranda, and Chief Femi Falana (SAN) and Chief Muiz Banire (SAN) are representing 36 law makers, and Oludamola (SAN), and Dada Awosika also (SAN) are representing other parties to be joined.
Although GAC is being linked to the removal of Obasa, the chairman of the group , Chief Tajudeen Olusi has debunked the allegation, saying that the group was not involved. He stated that Obasa’s impeachment was solely the decision of the lawmakers, who opted to replace him with Deputy Speaker Mrs. Mojisola Meranda.
Chief Olusi, who spoke in an interview with newsmen at the weekend, revealed that the lawmakers neither consulted the All Progressives Congress (APC) nor the GAC before executing Obasa’s removal. “Members of the GAC are not part of the Lagos State House of Assembly to allegedly be behind the removal of Obasa. It can’t be true.
He further disclosed that the GAC had invited all involved lawmakers to listen to their complaints but criticized them for failing to bring the issue to the party’s attention earlier.
“It is for the party to decide. The 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, Olusi pointed out.
“Those of us in the GAC, along with the Chairman of the Party, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, are doing all within our powers to assist the committee,” he added.
“One day, and very soon, the matter will be settled. Disputes and differences are facts of life, and dispute resolution and party mechanisms are also in place,”.
One pertinent question being asked is why Governor Sanwoolu allowed the matter to go as far as to the Presidency for intervention. Who ordered the leaders to wade in?
It was argued that Sanwoolu, who is the leader of the party in the state, should have resolved the issue, and his failure to do that, which called for the intervention from outside, shows that he is probably not in charge.
