The immediate past Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa may have been given a soft landing to return to the House and voluntarily resign as Speaker.
According to the outcome of a marathon meeting held with the members by the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) at the Governor’s Lodge in Marina on Monday, the Houss will also formally write to President Bola Tinubu over Obasa’s removal as speaker.
According to GAC members, who spoke with The PUNCH, the meeting continued on Tuesday, with the advisory body holding the position that Obasa’s removal on 13 January 2025 was illegal and a disrespect to the leadership of the All Progressives Congress in the state.
The lawmakers have therefore been directed to write a letter to the party’s national leader, President Tinubu, to communicate their positions.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, the leadership of the House, and other lawmakers were said to be in attendance at the GAC meeting on Monday.
A GAC member, Chief Muraina Taiwo said the council told the lawmakers the ‘mind of the party’, but the lawmakers had made up their mind (to retain Rt. Hon. Mojisola Meranda as the Speaker).
Deputy Speaker until Obasa’s removal, Meranda emerged as Speaker in a unanimous decision made by the lawmakers after Obasa’s removal.
Taiwo, who had faulted Obasa’s removal, told The PUNCH on Tuesday that it was important for the lawmakers to allow Obasa to return to the House where he might consider resigning by himself.
He said: ‘I’m aware that the GAC told them the mind of the party and the honorable members said they had made up their mind and they stand by it.
‘They decided that they would write all their grievances and send them to Abuja (to the President).
‘Let us wait and see between now and tomorrow (today) or thereafter maybe by the time they come back from Abuja, we know the way forward’.
He further said that the lawmakers could not force Obasa to resign. ‘My stand is that they (the lawmakers) should obey the directive of the leadership (of the party) and allow the Speaker to resume work and cooperate with him. To resign, that is his (Obasa’s) own decision, not that they will force him to resign’, he stressed.
When asked what the directive of GAC really was, he added: ‘The directive of the leadership is that they should allow him to continue his work because the leadership has considered that if he has committed any visible offence, we would have known, and they have not reported him before. What they did is not right politically and constitutionally’.
Taiwo said that was correct for the lawmakers to inform President Tinubu of their decisions, because, ‘we believe President Tinubu is our leader and will continue to be our leader forever’.
Meanwhile, GAC Chairman, Chief Tajudeen Olusi told The PUNCH on Tuesday that body would only issue an official position when the time is ripe, saying: ‘At the appropriate time, we shall talk’.
The spokesperson of the House, Hon. Ogundipe Olukayode has not responded to calls and text messages as of the time of filing this report, Tuesday night.
