The Lagos State House of Assembly has denied a report in the media alleging that the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa was spending N17million monthly for the maintenance of his residence and his official guest house, describing the allegation as unfounded and misleading.
Speaking in plenary yesterday, Clerk of the House, Azeez Sanni, who called the attention of the lawmakers to the report that made the rounds in April, explained that the report was erroneous.
Sanni said that the amount stated covers a lot more, and was for the smooth operation of the offices of the Speaker and the Assembly.
According to him, “The sum covers various expenditure of the full offices; the Office of the Chief of Staff, Special Advisers (Budget, Political Matters), office of the Chief Press Secretary, Special Assistant (Protocol), Special Assistant (Research and Development), Special Assistant (Women Affairs), and 15 Special Assistants engaged to give relevant advice with respect to their areas of speciality and fields of expertise for the smooth operation of the legislature.
“I must also state that this expenditures have been in existence prior to the emergence of Speaker Obasa. In fact, it dated back as far as 2012 when it was N27 million monthly and I have the documents here to show that.”
The Clerk added that the report was a deliberate attempt to tarnish the image of the House of Assembly, adding that if the information was sourced through the right channel, the matter would have been clarified, and everything would have been captured rather than a bit and piece, which he said was misleading and disparaging.
The Chairman, House Committee on Information, Security and Strategy, Tunde Braimoh, faulted the medium that published the report for not reaching out to the House to get their own side of the story and ensured a balanced report, adding that the report was malicious and that it should be totally ignored.
Braimoh, who further stated that the medium was known to be writing unbalanced reports lately, said that had it been that the medium reached out to the House before rushing to publish their report, they could have been better guided .
“A responsible journalist could have reached out to me as the Chairman of the House Committee on Information before publishing what is not.
“If they had asked a question, this would have been well cleared; we should ignore all this shenanigan and dismiss it in its entirety.
“That report is half-baked, suppressed, abridged and deliberately calculated not to capture all its intendiments, but just to have a kind of sensational view, the truth of the matter is that there are lots of expenditures attached to that particular vote.
“The line of the expenditure itself is not new in the annals of the Lagos House of Assembly, it’s been like that even before this present Speaker took over. 10 years before his dispensation in office, the expenditure had been there and it was even more; it was N27m,” he said.
Rotimi Olowo, representing Somolu Constituency 1 who also chairs the House Committee on Finance, took a swipe at the report.
Citing the alleged unprofessional and less-ethical style of journalism exhibited, he also alleged that the media outfit was known for tarnishing brand image and inciting the public beliberately by publishing misleading reports.
“I believe if it is truly investigative journalism that the medium is practising, it should be able to get the other side of the issue before they can rush to publish lies,” he said.
Also, Temitope Adewale ( Ifako Ijaiye 1), who corroborated Olowo, stated that the publisher lost his presidential bid in time past and was alleged to have mismanaged his party’s campaign fund.
“The same man was the party’s presidential candidate and at the same time the party’s national chairman.
“We don’t need to waste our time over his publication, we can explore legal means by suing the medium,” Adewale said.
In his contribution, Gbolahon Yishawu ( Eti Osa 2) stated that the media house was trying to incite the general public against the Speaker and the House of Assembly, stressing that an attack on Obasa is an attack on the whole members.
However, the Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, explained that it was necessary to correct the wrong impression created by the medium to the general public by letting them know that the House is not reckless or frivolous in its expenditure.
Obasa said that the essence of announcing the report at plenary was to debunk it, saying that silence means consent.
“As rightly put by the Clerk, this is an expenditure that has been existing before 2015 and he has been able to trace some documents to 2012 , 2013, 2014, so it shows the medium and it’s co-travellers would not get anywhere and we are not ready to join issues with them.
“I agree with you that we don’t have to waste our time on them. We remain resolute and unshakeable, we can stand and give enough documents to back up our expenditures,” Obasa said.
