By BASHIR ADEFAKA
Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, an Ogun State indigene that has been elected six times now as Lagos State lawmaker, has just been re-elected for the third term as Speaker of the State House of Assembly.
Obasa was re-elected on Tuesday by his colleagues, who also elected Hon. Mojisola Lasbat Meranda as the Deputy Speaker.
The lawmaker was unanimously re-elected after a proclamation of the 10th Assembly of the Lagos State House of Assembly by Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, who was present with Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat and top government officials at the chamber of the House.
In the meantime, former Minister of Communications and Trustee of Omoeko Pataki, Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju (Rtd), who appealed ahead of time that indigene be Speaker of the 10th Assembly in the state, has reacted to the development.
The reaction was contained in a press release by his Media Office and circulated across the Nigerian Press Wednesday morning of June 7, 2023.
The media office, according to the release, sees the re-election as wrong footing and wrong choice for the indigenes of the state, viewing from the background that Speaker Obasa is being investigated, and yet inaugurated as the Speaker of 10th Lagos State House of Assembly.
It noted it to be inappropriate without a clean bill from the security services for a person of interest under investigation unless he has been cleared of the alleged misconduct.
The release particularly relayed that General Olanrewaju, a known voice in the advocacy for improved lives of his people of Lagos origin, sees the reason given for ignoring compassionate appeals to allow owners of Lagos State enjoy their constitutional right of participating in the day-to-day affairs of their own state as unsustainable.
The Retired Army General and Prince of Lagos State, while reviewing the development, subtly said:
“The clearance of Mr Obasa to return as the Speaker of the 10th Lagos State House of Assembly was premised on the need for stability and continuity in the Assembly by the highest decision-making body, otherwise known as Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC).
“This raison d’etre is weak and unsustainable because Mr. President Bola Tinubu was a beneficiary of a zoning and rotational policy of the National Working Committee of the APC government. The return of Mr.Obasa is a deliberate policy of marginalisation of the indigenes in the State.
“No matter how the occupants of the three most important political offices of the State Administration today launder their curriculum vitae, they remain indigenes of Ogun State but residents in Lagos and incapable of claiming indigeneship of two states because the Constitution does not allow it.
“In any case, by this re-engagement, our Assembly in Lagos has become “One Man Democracy” (apology to Sonala Olumhense, a Punch Columnist). The return of Mr. Obasa is a big slap on the faces of the indigenes of the state.,” he said in a release by his Media Office.
He concluded his reaction with a quote by a prominent scholar, saying, “A man could become the next victim of the evil he celebrates today… Don’t defend evil because it favours you now. It could work against you the next minute!”
