Lagos lawmakers ignore Tinubu’s order to reinstate Obasa as Meranda retains Speakership
By KEMI KASUMU
The crisis surrounding the removal of former Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Mudashiru Ajaiyi Obasa, has deepened as the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state reportedly defied President Bola Tinubu’s directive to reinstate him.
The attitude of GAC, a branch of APC believed to be creation of Tinubu to monitor governance especially since inception of Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration, signposts a deep crack within the ranks of 25-year-old political garrison command of now president of Africa’s largest economy with highest percentage poor.
The DEFENDER gathered that following a deadlocked meeting with lawmakers, GAC leaders visited Tinubu to brief him on the unresolved leadership tussle.
Despite the president’s alleged order for Obasa’s reinstatement, Mojisola Lasbat Meranda remains the substantive speaker, backed by a majority of lawmakers.
It will be recalled that on January 13, 2025, 32 out of the 40-member Lagos State House of Assembly Assembly ousted Obasa in absentia while away in his house in Atlanta, United States of America. His ouster was premised on allegations bothering on financial misappropriation, misconduct, high-handedness and arrogant abuse of office.
His removal, however, has sparked a power struggle within the APC, with key figures in Tinubu’s camp reportedly opposing the decision.
Surprisingly, Tinubu’s unbendable ally, Prince Tajudeen Olusi is the chairman of the GAC but a source suggested the Council’s defiance was not its own will but that of majority of the lawmakers insisting that return of Obasa would create an unprecedented constitutionally crisis in the state and so that the embattled lawmaker was gone and had gone forever.
The Prince Olusi-led GAC had convened an emergency meeting on Monday at the Lagos House, Marina to address the crisis. The emergency meeting became necessary at the break of an media reports that alleged Tinubu’s order of the Lagos Assembly members to reinstate Obasa with immediate effect.
The reports added that the Tinubu’s order was coming also in days after his wife and First Lady of the country, Remi, allegedly stopped the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from arresting the ousted speaker on return to Nigeria through Abuja where he first met with the president before finally flying to Lagos and further straight to take possession of the Speaker’s Lodge on Joe Ogunnaike Street, GRA Ikeja.
From the lodge, Obasa addressed a widely publicise press conference during which he rejected his removal saying “I remain the Speaker” because, according to him, due process was lacking in the action of his colleagues who removed him.
A yet-to-be named lawmaker said to have spoken to Freedom Online, however, denied the media reports linking Tinubu and his wife with any attempt to return Obasa. In spite of the denial, it was gathered that frantic efforts still continued within the Tinubu’s presidency to get the removed Agege Constituency I lawmaker reinstated but failed as some Lagos indigenes kicked vowing to protest against it.
Lawmakers from Lagos West, who were expected to push for a new speaker to balance the state’s political structure and use that to support the decision of their long reigned political benefactor, instead threw their full support behind Meranda of Lagos Central, rejecting efforts to remove her.
Some media sources revealed that Tinubu, displeased with the outcome, had instructed the GAC to intervene and ensure Obasa’s return as a temporary measure before electing a new speaker. However, conservative members within the GAC resisted the directive, causing further divisions within the ruling party.
Amid rising tensions, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has been accused of working behind the scenes to oppose Obasa’s reinstatement, despite appearing neutral in public.
Reports suggest that the governor encouraged the lawmakers to stand firm against Obasa’s return, fueling speculation about a shifting power dynamic in Lagos politics, a bold decision none of his two predecessors could muster the courage to take before him.
With the crisis unresolved, the GAC has now taken the matter to Abuja for further deliberation, setting the stage for a high-stakes political showdown.
With the ongoing realities fawning on Lagos, if Tinubu continues the push to return Obasa, many have said, it may be the waterloo for his political structure of many years amidst preparedness of emotional eminent Lagos Indigenes saying it is time for those constitutionally bestowed the rights of ownership of Lagos State to take back the control of power in the state come 2027.
