…As observers point to 2027 as crux of the matter
As the new leadership of the Lagos State House of Assembly led by the Speaker Mojisola Meranda assume its roles, expectations are high for a dynamic and responsive Assembly that prioritises the needs of Lagosians.
Observers say the Assembly under her watch will need to tackle rising concerns about transparency and public engagement in legislative processes.
The new leadership faces significant challenges, including managing the Assembly’s relationship with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration, overseeing effective budget implementation, and addressing pressing urban development issues in Lagos which many Lagosians have condemned the incumbent administration’s approach.
Meranda, a third term member of the House and former deputy speaker, was elected after the impeachment of Mudashiru Obasa last week.
Obasa was removed from office on January 13, by 32 out of the 40 lawmakers, at an emergency plenary, via voice votes over alleged gross misconduct and financial recklessness.
The new Speaker presided over plenary for the first time last Friday and unveiled the Assembly’s new leadership marking a significant step in the state’s legislative journey.
However, Obasa, the embattled former speaker with two other lawmakers were absent from the session, questions linger about unity and commitment within the Assembly.
Many expect Meranda to be different from Obasa, whose divide and rule leadership style was to turn his colleagues against one another. This further fueled division in the Lagos House of Assembly.
“Meranda has to run an all-inclusive and open leadership style. She must be open in the finance of the House and ensure she sustains the goodwill she is currently enjoys.
“She should also collaborate with the executive arm of government in ensuring the dividend of democracy trickle down to the grassroots,” Sunday Adetunde, political analyst, said.
Political analysts have lauded the smooth transition in leadership but highlighted the critical role the new principal officers will play in ensuring the Assembly remains proactive and collaborative.
Barely 24 hours after being sworn in last week, the new Speaker and some key lawmakers of House, met with the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who endorsed her emergence. The GAC is the highest decision-making body of the party in the state.
At the meeting, Meranda sought the cooperation and support of the council members to succeed.
Speaking to newsmen after the meeting, the Speaker said: “We briefed the GAC about what happened at the state House of Assembly and to seek their blessings which we have gotten.”
Obasa’s political future hangs in the balance
With his impeachment and purported invitation by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), over allegations of misappropriating state funds, Obasa’s political future hangs in the balance.
For many observers, questions remain whether Obasa will return to Nigeria to assume a lesser role as a floor member in the Lagos State House of Assembly or continue to evade scrutiny.
Some have even suggested that he go on political exile for now, maybe until the current administration at the federal level leaves office.
Upon his impeachment, Obasa was away in Atlanta together with his former clerk of the House, however, the embattled former speaker or his media team has not made any public statement.
Already on the LAHA website, he has been moved to the stead of an ordinary member and not involved in the decision-making clique anymore.
Observers say his leadership style caught lots of enmity with the state as it were, to an extent that the Governor Advisory Council took a stand on way forward hatching a change strategy to save Lagos.
“Obasa may have to either return as a floor member, a decision which is doubtful, given his kind of person won’t be able to bear the shame, but if he tries to pull any strings, he will certainly get his fingers burnt because the state perceived him as a threat now.
“They may eventually move to ground him financially, he is already at war with the state and the state will crush him because they are aware of what really is his net worth,” a source told BusinessDay.
“Politically he is doomed as I see no future for him even in his domain as there are many Draculas waiting to consume him. He has not really built people with required finesse to influence any good that can bring him back to reckoning. His crass mood politics won’t allow that,” the source added.
Obasa, 52 years, represented Agege state constituency 1, a sixth-term lawmaker, serving his third term as Speaker.
Many of his colleagues were afraid to confront him, he was a self-styled emperor and as a supposed leader often gag other lawmakers in the Assembly from making a valid point, once he was not at home with their proposal in open glare.
Several of his colleagues have consistently said Obasa, with the removed Clerk, Olalekan Onafeko, ruled the Assembly in a gestapo manner.
The impeached speaker was accused of gross misconduct and poor leadership, which included perpetual lateness to legislative sections and meetings; highhandedness and lack of regard for them amongst others.
The impeached speaker and Onafeko were also behind the ban on journalists covering the activities of the Assembly for over two years ago.
“He was fond of conducting himself more like an emperor than a lawmaker he really should have been. Back then, whenever he comes around even the area where his vehicle is parked gets barricaded as no one is allowed to pass there any longer.
“Imagine the journey of people going to the Chamber would have been made easier but instead they have to follow a long route due to the barricades,” a source in the Assembly told BusinessDay on condition of anonymity.
Many people are watching to see where the once-feared politician goes from here, although there are those who say that he may decide to fight back.
“This could definitely be Obasa’s political end. Four things are likely: he keeps quiet and conform; he fights back and face the consequences. Or even with his quietness, EFCC comes in to probe his tenure. Or he stays outside the country in political asylum,” a source within the Lagos APC said.
Governorship ambition nailed Obasa
Sources say Obasa’s problem started because of his over ambition; his unbridled greed and quest for power, specifically to be next governor of Lagos State.
In recent years, the Agege politician had started to build structure across the twenty Local government areas and thirty-seven Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the name of Obasa’s support group, just to control the grassroots, ahead of the 2027 general election to actualise his governorship ambition.
Despite these underground moves, not many took him seriously and reports on Obasa’s interest in the number one seat in Lagos were discarded as mere rumour in some quarters.
Many did not take it seriously, but the message became clearer after the Archbishop of Methodist Church Nigeria (Lagos), Isaac Ayo Olawuyi, indirectly drummed up support for the three-term speaker during the Lagos House of Assembly’s 22nd annual thanksgiving Service.
At the event which the former Speaker attended, Olawuyi had said in the interest of religious tolerance, Lagosians should elect a Muslim as governor in 2027.
“I also want to add that we have consideration for religious inclination in Lagos State. It would be 12 years in 2027 that we have been in the system together and we have been having Christians as governors.
“Now, it’s time to give our Muslim brothers a chance to govern us in Lagos State. We want to pray that when it’s time for the election, it would be a time for us to elect who will govern us in Lagos State effectively,” the archbishop had said.
He went further to praise the former speaker for his leadership and collaboration with the other arms of government, saying these have kept the state strong.
“You have been a true and sensitive leader with a big heart. You have proved yourself worthy. We pray that God will continue to use you to make us smile in Lagos and also grant you your heart desires,” he said.
After that event, the campaign for Obasa regained momentum while the former speaker carried on with force.
However, his fate was sealed this yuletide after the GAC, reported him to President Bola Tinubu.
Tajudeen Olusi, the chairman of GAC, was said to have started the discussion by reminding the President of how highly the governor’s office was when he governed between 1999 and 2007.
He reportedly told the President how disrespectful Obasa had been to Sanwo-Olu, citing several instances. Tinubu was said to have openly lashed the former speaker for not just disrespecting the governor but also the GAC and party elders.
Although Sanwo-Olu and Obasa have had a running battle, the matter came to a head during the 2025 budget presentation.
Obasa stoked controversy when he declared that he was not too young or lacked experience to run for Lagos governor.
He had said, “I am not too young or lacking experience to run. Those who have been before me are not better off.
“I have made it a personal task to mobilise people on the platform of Mandate, which some political detractors have misconstrued as being a selfish aspiration on the ground for me to become governor of the state.”
Reacting to the development in an interview with BusinessDay, Wale Oshun, a chieftain of the APC in Lagos and member of the GAC, said what was significant in Obasa’s impeachment was that the House has its powers to take action and make needed change in its leadership.
“What is significant about Obasa’s removal is that the Lagos Assembly was able to elect a new speaker, they are all colleagues and they made that decision, and it was a normal one.
“It is not about governorship ambition or power, because only God gives power. It is not something the media is speculating so much about,” Oshun said.
But Tajudeen Olanrewaju, former Minister of Communications and Alternate Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of De Renaissance Patriots Foundation, described the impeachment of Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa as speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly as the “Law of Karma” in action.
Olanrewaju said the choices that the former speaker made while in his exalted seat were that he overstepped his political boundary in many ways.
According to him, “I remember that I warned Obasa a few years ago not to contest for the speaker’s position for the third time. He should yield the post to an indigene, knowing that it was the right time for an indigene to be the speaker.
“The road to the 2027 electoral contest will present never-ending challenges and compromises. Many politicians never realise that political power is not within their grasp but in the hands of power brokers and a kingmaker.
Like the ancient Chinese emperors who suffered fools gladly, it is not an accident that Obasa’s open declaration to show his face without authorisation into the gubernatorial ring is an unpardonable ‘harakiri.’”
Equally, Samuel Umoh, political commentator said despite the Lagos APC’s leadership denial it was obvious that part of the reasons Obasa was removed was because of his ambition.
He stated that it was shocking that the party tolerated him for so long and allowed him to become a dictator with such influence.
“Imagine if such a man ruled Lagos, the way he speaks you would know his attitude. That is what you get when a politician stays in position for too long unchecked, they turn into tyrant and dictator.
“That is what you see in Arab societies. It is because our election doesn’t count or such kind of people would have been voted out,” he said.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
