Lagos Assembly: Sanwo-Olu declares innocence as Obasa Faces Impeachment over fraud allegations

On Monday, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu disassociated himself from Mudashiru Obasa’s impeachment as Speaker of the state House of Assembly.

In an interview, Gboyega Akosile, Sanwo-Olu’s Special Adviser on Media & Publicity, characterized Obasa’s impeachment as a rigorous legislative process free from politics and the influence or meddling of the state government.

“It is solely a legislative issue, and the Assembly did their best to resolve it. Citing the constitution’s division of powers between the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary branches, Akosile stated simply, “It has nothing to do with the governor.”

As of the time of writing, the Speaker’s removal’s specifics are yet unknown. However, it was discovered that Obasa was fired by the Lagos State House of Assembly due to a number of accusations, including money embezzlement, misbehavior, and abuse.

Mojeed Fatai, the Chief Whip, was chosen as the new Deputy Speaker, while Olalekan Onafeko, the Clerk of the House, was also placed on indefinite leave.

Regarding the development, the House has not released a statement.

After 90 percent of the House supported the motion, MPs ousted Obasa during a Monday sitting, according to multiple sources.

Mojisola Meranda, the Deputy Speaker, was then sworn in as the Assembly’s first female Speaker.

A politician, surrounded by other Assembly members, stated in a widely shared video that our correspondent saw: “Change is inevitable because the only thing that is constant is death.” Today, parliamentarians made the decision to switch the House’s leadership. The House’s authority to control own operations is explicitly stated in the Constitution.

The House members believed that Mudashiru Obasa’s leadership had reached a breaking point. We all decided that Hon. Fatai Adebola would serve as the Deputy Speaker and Hon. Mojisola Meranda as the new Speaker. Every member of the parliament supported the resolution. All of the House’s major jobs and standing committees have been dissolved as of right now.

At the time this article was filed, Eromosele Ebhomele, Obasa’s chief press secretary, did not return calls or texts on the development.

Sanwo-Olu’s aide, Akosile, said that because the Assembly had accused the former Speaker, it was still up to the lawmakers to decide whether the state would prosecute Obasa on the basis of the fraud charges.

Obasa recently reportedly called claims that the Assembly had spent N17 billion building a gate “spurious and laughable.”

The Lagos State Anti-Corruption Coalition demanded an investigation after accusing the Assembly of using the funds for the gate.

The former Speaker refuted the accusations during a plenary, calling them politically motivated.

It’s amusing. How much does the Assembly have allotted in a year for someone to say we spent N17 billion on a gate? They further claimed, falsely, that we spent N200 million on the recently held 22nd Thanksgiving Service,” he stated.

Additionally, there are hints that Obasa’s struggles might be connected to his rumored goal of becoming governor of Lagos in 2027.

Even though he acknowledged that he had not given becoming the next governor “as was already being speculated,” Obasa stated that he had the experience to run for the position in 2027 during Governor Sanwo-Olu’s November 2024 presentation of the 2025 budget to the Lagos Assembly.

“To the blackmailers who have set out to reinterpret and distort our mission, let me state it clearly here: our goal is to advance our party on the mandate platform,” he stated.

Additionally, being governor is a secondary goal that I haven’t given much thought to. However, that does not imply that I am too inexperienced or young to run; on the contrary, people who have gone before me are in a better position.

His remarks also coincided with rumors that Seyi, the son of President Bola Tinubu, may be interested in becoming the state’s governor. The opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the state had criticized these rumors.

In the meantime, the state’s APC denied rumors that the Speaker’s removal was the result of political pressure.

The development “remains an internal affair of the legislative arm – the Lagos State House of Assembly,” said Seye Oladejo, the party’s state publicity secretary, on Monday.

“Our party respects the separation of powers,” Oladejo stated. We have a reputation for not meddling excessively in matters that belong to the legislature. Unnecessary interference by the party has never been documented.

“All those things, including that he (Obasa) was nursing governorship ambition, those things are speculations and will remain in the realm of speculations until proven otherwise,” the APC spokesperson said in response to a question about whether the governor had anything to do with Obasa’s dismissal.

“If people are not aware of what truly happened, they will undoubtedly guess. Nowhere in the House’s justifications was it stated that the APC was issuing orders.

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Tai Benedict, the deputy chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos, claimed that Obasa’s impeachment was not shocking and that some cabals were threatened by the former speaker’s intention to run for governor of the state.

“It was expected, and we heard it. First and foremost, you cannot keep deceiving people; the truth will eventually be exposed. To the best of my knowledge, Obasa is a Lagosian, and I think the entire affair started because he is interested in becoming the state’s governor.

They are aware that he has that ticket because he is from Lagos. They are confident that he can win because, if you look at all the candidates for governor since Tinubu’s time, not a single one of them is a true Lagosian. Many things will be made clear by the time we have someone who is truly Lagosian.

The PDP leader responded to the accusations against Obasa by saying, “These financial allegations came up overnight.” What we are witnessing is the Nigerian government system. I don’t want to tell a fib, but if he’s in their good graces, he will be covered as normal starting today.

Sam Okpala, the Labour Party’s state secretary, stated that the party was keeping a careful eye on things because it wanted the APC to “deal” with itself.

“The Speaker who was impeached does not belong to the Labour Party, which is our party. In the Lagos Assembly, we just have one member. We are keeping an eye on the progression in both the Assembly and the APC. We want the APC to take care of itself.

Muyiwa Jimoh, a three-term former state Assembly member, claimed that during his tenure, members had consistently tried to highlight Obasa’s flaws.

He believed that it was long past for Obasa to be removed from office.

When he was elected Speaker in 2015, I was the Deputy Majority Leader. As a trained leader, we tried to point out his flaws and other violations when he was re-elected. We also spoke with him to make sure that the mistakes were fixed moving forward in order to advance the Assembly and the state. I was serving during his tenure.