Lagos Assembly speaker: Meranda may step down as Akande panel shortlists seven
The speakership crisis rocking the Lagos State House of Assembly might be resolved soon as the intervention of heavyweights in the All Progressives Congress may be leading to a headway.
The No. 1 seat in the House will go back to an unnamed member from Lagos West senatorial zone, while Obasa is from Lagos East.
The development follows the intervention of some bigwigs of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), notably former governors of Osun, Ogun and Lagos States, namely Chief Bisi Akande, Aremo Segun Osoba, and Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, respectively, among others.
The leaders were reportedly directed by President Bola Tinubu to resolve the political tension at the Assembly, following the inability of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) to find a solution.
The crisis began at the House on 13 January 2025, when about 36 lawmakers removed Obasa as speaker and replaced him with Meranda, the then-deputy speaker.
Over 90 per cent of the lawmakers accused the impeached speaker of poor leadership style, perpetual lateness to legislative sections and plenary, high-handedness and disregard for colleague lawmakers and the executive, especially the governor, abuse of office and privileges, intimidation and oppression of members, misappropriation, among others.
Obasa, who was away in Atlanta, United States, when he was removed, had since faulted his removal and insisted he was still the speaker, even as his colleagues in the House remained adamant.
‘My status in the house? I strongly believe I am still the speaker until the right thing has been done. If you want to remove me, remove me the proper way and I will not contest it’, Obasa said while addressing newsmen on Saturday, 25 January 2025.
On Sunday, Osoba, Ambode, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and all the GAC members met at the Governor’s Lodge in Marina to find a lasting solution to the crisis.
The PUNCH gathered that the meeting lasted till around 7 pm. It was also learnt that the panel earlier met with the lawmakers.
A GAC member, Chief Muraina Taiwo said that Monday’s meeting resolved that one of the seven lawmakers from Lagos West is to assume the office of Speaker.
‘The issue will die down soon. Between now and the middle of next week, everything will become clearer. The APC leaders, including Chief Bisi Akande and Chief Olusegun Osoba, came to mediate.
‘They will go back to Abuja to brief our leader (President Tinubu) how they feel about everything. They are suggesting to Speaker Obasa that he should step down and the other woman (Meranda) to also step down and they will bring in another new person. They are thinking of submitting a few names but all will land at the table of the leader.
‘You know the House is working based on seniority, that is, if you’ve spent two years at the House, you’re qualified to hold a higher position than someone in first tenure. So they will go back to Abuja with seven names of the seniors in the House and from Lagos West’, he said.
The GAC member added: ‘The seven of them are ranking members in Lagos West. They are the ones whose names will be submitted to President Tinubu’.
It was also gathered that party leaders considered it politically and ethically appropriate not to select a speaker from Lagos Central, as it is the same senatorial zone as the governor.
Sources said that the Chief Whip, Hon. David Setonji (Badagry II constituency) is being considered based on his experience and seniority.
A top source in Lagos APC said: ‘Setonji from Badagry is being considered among them. He is the one who is not like a first-timer among those in the West’.
Born in 1959, Setonji has been in the House since 2015. He was Deputy Chief Whip under Obasa with Meranda appointing his Chief Whip last January.
A Master’s degree holder, Setonji is a former chairman of the Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (Lagos State chapter).
Another top source in the Lagos APC said that part of the resolutions being considered was for Obasa to withdraw the suit against the Assembly and Meranda in court.
The former Speaker dragged the Assembly and Meranda before a state High Court in Ikeja, claiming that the lawmakers were wrong to have removed him when the House was in recess.
The source further said: ‘Those who don’t want Obasa feel that they have won the battle anyway, and the man will never be their speaker again. So there is nothing they are fighting for again.
‘Meranda, whom they put there, is just a child of circumstance. And since things have changed – the woman herself is not a power monger, she didn’t say she has to be there forever. It is hoped that in the next one week, the agreement will be reached’.
