Of Obasa and the need to let the Lagos Assembly breathe, By Fidelis Nwagwu

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I see a very powerful signalling of the need not only for new leadership in the Lagos Assembly, but more importantly to have a woman in the driver’s seat of decision-making, in order to experience all the difference she is capable of making and the innovations she can bring to the task of lawmaking in Nigeria’s most consequential state.

I should think that it is high time for all the shenanigans surrounding the removal of the erstwhile Speaker and selection of a new Speaker for the Lagos State House of Assembly to have been brought to an end, so as not to keep impeding governance in Lagos State. If the majority of members are resolute in doing away with the former Speaker – who has been accussed of misconduct and financial misappropriation, even though still allegations – then he and his supporters ought to move on and allow the Assembly to breathe. The noise has just simply being too much.

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If according to the facts out there, 37 out of 40 lawmakers signed for the removal of the previous Speaker, Honourable Mudashiru Obasa, and unanimously elected his deputy, Honourable Mojisola Lasbat Meranda, as the new Speaker, then instead of the continuous attempts at disruption of the Assembly and almost unraveling the system, I believe the former Speaker ought to just take a moment to reflect on the journey from his more humble beginnings to a position of great influence. And all the years in which he has enjoyed the privileges, perks and perquisites of that exalted position. Why try to pull the house down when other members now say they would rather try a new leadership?

And from indications, Honourable Meranda, the first female Speaker of the Lagos Assembly, has already been endorsed by the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) of the APC in Lagos and also met with President Bola Tinubu, whom is said to have given her his blessings to complete the tenure. After almost a decade in the saddle by the erstwhile Speaker, I seriously believe that a newer form of leadership and outlook is necessary at this point, to inject fresh ideas into the system. I am firmly of the conviction that any attempt to overturn the decision of the House – by the actions of a few desperate actors – and return the former Speaker would be highly is undemocratic and could render him politically irrelevant.

I see a very powerful signalling of the need not only for new leadership in the Lagos Assembly, but more importantly to have a woman in the driver’s seat of decision-making, in order to experience all the difference she is capable of making and the innovations she can bring to the task of lawmaking in Nigeria’s most consequential state.

The Lagos Assembly is an independent institution and should be allowed to function as such. The desperation in seeking President Tinubu’s intervention the reinstatement of the former Speaker – as it is being widely alleged – is highly unconstitutional. Also, all the noise in which online journalists are being used to push a narrative in that seeks to return the Assembly to the past is certainly not likely to help. Ironically, it is said that the former Speaker once dismissed the media’s relevance, stating in 2015 that all he needed for relevance and staying in power were his colleagues and the party leaders. Now, relying on the same media for a comeback seems contradictory.

The extent of the acrimony against the former Speaker is evident in what one of his colleagues said recently: “If you truly believe you are innocent of the allegations against you, the honourable thing to do would be to voluntarily present yourself to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) rather than petitioning against your colleagues for allegedly breaking government property to retrieve the mace.”

Also, “Do you expect the same lawmakers — who were locked out by the Department of State Services (DSS) because of your petition — to reinstate you? Common sense should prevail.” It appears that after the ordeal of Obasa’s colleagues with the DSS, have reaffirmed that there is no going back on his removal. Last Thursday, the DSS had questioned some of them over a petition reportedly written by the former Speaker, in which he claimed that his removal was illegal. Why continue to overheat the polity, with this power struggle that would very likely come to naught?

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Many even catalogue what are regarded as the alleged grevious sins of the former Speaker to justify why there is need for a change in leadership at the Lagos Assembly, such as how he embarrassed the house by delaying the party apparatchik, including the GAC members, the Lagos State party chairman, other party leaders, as well as Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Deputy Governor, Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat and other State Executive Council members during the 2025 budget presentation. And that he even had the audacity to claim that he was better than the former governors of the State. Who does that? For Obasa, politics seemed to have been getting in the way of public service.

⁠Hence, following his removal or impeachment, the development presented the Lagos State House of Assembly with a landmark situation in which it has had its first female Speaker since the return of democracy in 1999. This is a very good sign that also fulfils the very crucial Fifth Sustainable Development Goal of gender equality, and the fact that Lagos is ready for more progressive gender participation in decision-making.

But what are we now hearing that there are ongoing attempts by the powers in Lagos State that the new Speaker is about to be forced to resign to pacify some strong interests. Could this be because Lagos is fundamentally patriarchal and the APC is actually non-progressive, despite its pretences?

To put it more bluntly, the question on the lips of Lagosians now is: Could it be true what we are hearing that the president is involved in this situation, as some claim that he wants a reversion to the status quo or at least the replacement of Speaker Meranda with another man? It would be interesting to see how this would play out, considering the fact that in the very contentious elections of 2023, Lagos lost a very sizeable portion of its youth and female voters. Doing this at this sort of time would likely set the stage for APC shooting itself in the head, as such a reversal would deepen the alienation of these sizeable demographics that could finally reverse the fortunes of the party in Lagos.

C⁠ould it be true that the powers that be in Abuja want to foist a candidate upon the Assembly, agaist the will of the lawmakers, with the feelers around indicating that the so-called preferred candidate is not only male, but is also one of the only four members that voted in favour of the former Speaker – a member of the so called “Gang of Four” – and thus this is a back-door way of keeping the erstwhile Speaker in office by proxy.

⁠If zoning is the key, what is the critical nature of this zoning that the first female speaker must be sacrificed even though voted for by her colleagues?

I honestly think that it is time for the former Speaker to move on and allow peace to reign in the Assembly and stop overheating the polity. He should accept the reality of the transience of power, let go of the past, and embrace the future. The Lagos speakership is a privilege conferred on a first among equals and not an entitled to chieftaincy title. He and his followers should allow the Lagos House of Assembly to breathe.

Fidelis Nwagwu writes from Amuwo Odofin, Lagos.