BREAKING: Obasa Shows Up At Lagos Assembly Amid Leadership Tussle

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Thursday, February 27th, 2025

(AFRICAN ExAMINER) – Amid the protracted speakership tussle which has unsettled the hitherto calm legislative arm of Lagos State, ousted Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, showed up at the Assembly Complex on Thursday.

Obasa was chaperoned by a retinue of armed, stern-looking uniformed security operatives as he walked into the hallowed chambers which he has not been publicly seen since his removal as Lagos speaker on Monday, January 13, 2025.

In a show of solidarity, his supporters gathered at the entrance gate of the Assembly Complex, chanting and cheering on the lawmaker who represents Agege Constituency I in the 40-member House.

Back in January, Obasa was removed as Lagos speaker when more than two-thirds of the house voted him out over alleged misconduct and sundry offences.

Obasa’s then deputy, Mojisola Meranda, was immediately elected the new Speaker, becoming the first female to take charge of the legislative body in the South-West state.

A day after she became the speaker, Meranda visited members of the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC) to “brief them about what happened at the House of Assembly yesterday and to seek their blessings which we have gotten”.

Meranda met with members of GAC, the highest decision-making body of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos, alongside other members of the State Assembly at Lagos House, Marina.

Meranda, who represents Apapa Constituency I and ended the 10-year reign of Obasa, has also met with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu after she emerged as speaker.

Obasa was first elected into the House in 2007. He has been in the chamber since then. He emerged as a speaker in June 2015 before his removal in January 2025.

On Saturday, January 25, 2025, Obasa rejected his removal and insisted that he remained the speaker until the right thing had been done. He faulted the militarisation of the assembly complex during the impeachment process. He also claimed his removal as speaker took place in his absence — when he was out of Nigeria.

However, 36 lawmakers loyal to Meranda insisted that Obasa’s removal was final and that Meranda remained the speaker of the House.

On February 17, 2025, tempers flared at the Assembly Complex when security agents and some legislative workers clashed over the presence of the former in the hallowed chambers. Thereafter, thirty-six of the lawmakers passed a vote of confidence in meranda and adjourned sitting indefinitely.

Meanwhile, hours earlier, an aide to Meranda, Victor Ganzallo, accused the police of withdrawing all the escorts attached to the speaker.

In a statement, Ganzallo said “all the police escorts assigned to the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mojisola Meranda, as well as the security personnel guarding the Assembly complex, have been withdrawn without any explanation”.

The aide queried the decision of the police which he said posed grave dangers to the speaker and other assembly members.

“The timing of the withdrawal of security, combined with the hostile actions of the former Speaker and his associates, raises the question: Is this politically motivated, or is this part of a larger strategy to destabilize the current administration?

“We demand an immediate clarification from both the police and the state government on their roles in these actions.”

The police are yet to make an official statement on the unfolding development but when contacted, police spokesman for the state, Benjamin Hundeyin, declined an immediate comment but said the Commissioner of Police, Olohundare Jimoh, would address the matter later.