The National Industrial Court sitting in Lagos has sacked the acting clerk of the House, Ottun Babatunde, who was appointed by Speaker Mojisola Meranda.
The court ordered the reinstatement of the former clerk of the House, Olalekan Onafeko.
The order follows an ex parte application to the court made by Onafeko through his counsel, Yusuf Nurudeen, in a case he filed against the Lagos State Government, Lagos State Civil Service Commission, Lagos State House of Assembly Service Commission, the Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Attorney-General of Lagos State and Babatunde.
Onafeko was the clerk of the House before 13 January when Obasa was removed as Speaker.
The claimant in the suit marked: NICN/LA/23/2025 sought an interim injunction restraining the six defendants from parading any individual including Babatunde as the clerk pending the hearing of the motion on notice for Interlocutory injunction already filed in the suit.
Granting the application, Justice M. N. Esowe in an ex parte order directed that Babatunde should cease to parade himself as Clerk.
‘That both parties shall maintain the peace and status quo ante bellum until the motion on notice is heard and determined’, Esowe ordered in a judgment dated 20 February and sighted by PUNCH on Sunday.
The judge slated the hearing of the motion on notice for 3 weeks March 2024.
The sacking is another new turn of the crisis rocking the assembly since the removal of Obasa, who has dragged the assembly and Meranda to court, seeking redress.
The PUNCH reports that the House on 12 February adjourned its sitting indefinitely after the presence of officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) created tension at the assembly and sparked controversy.
The DSS recently arrested three workers of the House for allegedly attacking its personnel on 17 February.
Some individuals had manhandled DSS personnel during the drama that ensued at the assembly on the said day.
The assembly, in a letter dated 14 February 2025, by the acting clerk, A. T. B. Ottun had invited the DSS to provide more security at the assembly.
According to the letter with reference LSHA/FAD/0/7554/323, the DSS was instructed to ensure strict access to the facility from 15 February till further notice.
A source in the DSS said, ‘Some of our personnel deployed to the Lagos House of Assembly were attacked on Monday (17 February). Our personnel were there because we were invited to provide security there. After extensive analysis of CCTV footage, we were able to identify three of the suspects.
‘The suspects, Ibrahim Olanrewaju Abdulkareem, a photographer, and two others attached to the Assembly’s Sergeant at Arms, Adetu Adekunle Samsudeen and Adetola Oluwatosin Fatimoh, a lady, were consequently tracked and arrested during the week in different parts of Lagos’.
The source said the suspects would be charged in court.
A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, however, said the suspects had been released on bail.
