The reinstatement of Mudashiru Obasa as Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly holds great significance for South-West politics and native plots within the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2027 presidential slot. SEYE OLUMIDE and LEO SOBECHI capture the behind-the-scenes moves that won Obasa a reprieve despite implications for the frosty relationship between the legislature and executive arm of government.
Barring any last-minute change of schemes, the Speakership tussle in the Lagos State House of Assembly could open a new vista. Veteran Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, may yield the Speakership seat for a new helmsman to emerge today.
The Guardian gathered that APC elders, including former interim National Chairman, Bisi Akande and former Ogun State governor, Segun Osoba, are meeting with other stakeholders in Lagos APC to resolve the lingering leadership tangle.
Although interim Speaker, Mojisola Meranda, had to resign for Obasa to regain the gavel, the veteran Speaker may step down also in line with agreed conditions that preceded Meranda’s resignation for a new Speaker to emerge from Lagos West Senatorial District.
It was also learnt that an attempt by the majority members of the Assembly stonewall against Obasa’s return by queuing behind the female Speaker, voices of strong rebuke and censure from the Presidency triggered an about-face among them.
The Presidency was said to have listened to Obasa’s complaints, especially his plea of lack of fair hearing, where he argued that he was not granted the opportunity to respond to accusations of high-handedness levelled against him.
President Bola Tinubu’s in-depth knowledge of the political history of South-West Nigeria must have moved him to intervene. The President was said to have thundered at members of the Assembly and leaders of the Governor Advisory Committee (GAC): “I am the founder and the leader of the party. As the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic, I deserve to be consulted before removing the speaker. Return Mudashiru Obasa as Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly. Reinstate him; he will behave well going forward.”
Was the President right in his mercurial intervention? How does leaving Sanwo-Olu with a seemingly bloody nose say about who succeeds him in 2027? Where does this leave the powerful consultative body, the GAC? Will they continue to sulk or silently assimilate the lessons from the precipitate attempt to replay the February 25 tar brush on the leader’s power garb? Will Obasa grow swollen-headed and decide to engage in arbitrary acts or sustain subtle affronts to Sanwo-Olu?
It is said that history repeats itself first as a farce. If indeed the Lagos State governor supported the sudden removal of Obasa, he must have made himself into another eleyi.
Recall that while deploying that significant slogan, emi lokan, in the course of speaking to Yoruba elders in Abeokuta, Ogun State on January 1, 2022, referred to the state governor as eleyi (this one) based on the governor’s support for a rival presidential aspirant.
Also, in the build-up to the 1983 presidential election, the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, had expressed dismay that former Oyo State Governor and his Deputy, Sunday Afolabi, had to take their quarrels to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Therefore, Tinubu must have acted to reflect Awo’s idea of preserving party unity by avoiding conflicts that could open the party to intrusion by political adversaries. Whether by fiat or threat, the Presidency’s decision to wade into the Assembly saga takes into cognisance the ongoing gang-up by North-Central and North-West geopolitical zones against the President’s second-term plans.
A source within the Presidency confided in The Guardian that President Tinubu had told some notable Yoruba leaders that what was happening in the Lagos State House of Assembly was like a betrayal.
“He said no political leader would allow an insurrection in his backyard,” the source revealed, stressing that having lost the Presidential poll in Lagos State to Peter Obi of the Labour Party in 2023, the President believes that those behind “the coup against Obasa” wanted to create an opportunity for a repeat in 2027.
Party queues behind President
However, while there has been some internal resentment and grumbling about the indirect intervention of the President, the state chapter of APC said all is well and ends well, insisting that the matter has been resolved amicably.
Spokesperson of Lagos APC, Seye Oladejo, in an exclusive interview with The Guardian yesterday, dismissed the allegation that President Tinubu has a vested interest in Obasa and or the Lagos Assembly other than what bothered the growth and development of Lagos.
While contending that the opposition parties have been spreading the lies, Oladejo stated: “If the President had ‘vested’ interest, the matter would not have dragged on for so long. The truth of the matter remains that it was the legislators that invited the party to mediate.
“All the members of the Assembly belonged to different sides, and they claimed they couldn’t address the issue. Therefore, they called on the party to intervene between the warring gladiators. It was when they couldn’t resolve it after so many meetings, horse trading, and bargaining that they invited the party.
“The party’s role was just advisory. Otherwise, they could have rejected all we suggested to them. It only became binding because they implemented what we proposed at the plenary on Monday.
“It is part of the politics of the opposition to say that APC and or Tinubu didn’t allow the independence of the legislators. The party didn’t dictate to them. Mr President cannot be reduced to the level of a local leader.”
Reacting on why the lawmakers chose not to carry the party along before they removed Obasa, Oladejo said while it is true that the independence of the legislators in the legislative arm of government did not take away the party’s supremacy, they didn’t consult the party before they elected Obasa their leader, at least for three terms.
“In a unique situation, when those issues became intractable, and they could no longer manage it, they resolved to call the leaders and elders in the party to fix it.
“When there are conflicts in the House of Assembly, the first step would not be to come to the party. The way forward is to encourage our legislators at the various levels, local governments, State and federal, to manage their affairs, and that’s the beauty of democracy. The party should be the last resort.” Oladejo added that the call to scrap the GAC because of its overbearing influence on political matters in Lagos is not true.
“As you observed, the GAC has no constitutional role, but at the same time, the GAC has been known to resolve a whole lot of problems in the party and governance of the state because of its bulk of experience. The council remains a stabilising factor, and Tinubu, who put the GAC in place, is to make the state of the experiences of these distinguished leaders and elders available.
“They served at various levels of governance in Lagos and at the federal level years ago. Their wisdom has been able to stabilise the party on numerous occasions. There is no doubt that they are playing a big role. The last crisis was stubborn, but at the end of the day, it took the intervention and the experience of the GAC members to resolve it.
“It will not be right to put the rift in the Assembly at the doorstep of the GAC. Their role is advisory, and you need some mentorship at every level. Those who have personal grouses to settle with the GAC will do well to approach such individuals on their own.”
There are indications that the return of Obasa on Monday may have split the otherwise close-knit GAC because some elders in the council believed in the Speaker.
For instance, while Oladejo said the issue had been resolved, a member of the GAC, who, for the sake of not wanting to compound the issue, refused to mention his name, said there was no reason for jubilation yet, and not until the tripartite agreement Akande and Osoba discussed with the GAC is implemented.
According to him: “The tripartite solution is that Meranda must resign and Obasa would be giving a soft landing by being reinstated and that he (Obasa) too would resign latest today (Wednesday) while another person from Lagos West would step in as the Speaker. Any other arrangement besides this is null and void and must not be celebrated.”
The GAC member also faulted the fact that APC is yet to openly condemn what Obasa did by taking armed security personnel to the Assembly last Thursday. “That is what they call brigandage in law. Since he has gone to court to challenge his removal, Obasa has no right to do that, and the party must be bold enough to say it for our integrity before Lagosians, Nigerians and anywhere democracy and or representative governance is practised. I am waiting for him (Obasa) to step down as agreed; otherwise, the whole thing will remain a charade and a slap to the citizens of Lagos.”
However, his position differs from what some other GAC members, especially from Lagos Central, were saying: Obasa was correct in asserting himself as the Speaker by taking armed security officers to the Assembly last Thursday.
