Lagos Assembly to Look Into Obasa’s Fraud Allegations After Resumption

The Lagos State House of Assembly has declared that it will look into claims of money mismanagement and fraud against former Speaker Mudashiru Obasa.

The House spokesperson, Olukayode Ogundipe, revealed the information in an interview with The Punch.

He said the investigation will start as soon as Obasa returns to work at the Assembly.

“The other accusations against him will be addressed once he is physically present,” Ogundipe stated.

We have also heard additional reports regarding the various sums of money that he has been spending. We were unsure of how they obtained the records of those, but when he is sitting with us, we will take action with the ones we have.

“That will be expatiated when he’s on the ground, probably a committee will be set up to look into it or probably it will also be looked at by the leadership of the House,” the Assembly spokesperson said when asked if the Assembly would submit a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate the former Speaker.

“Those procedures-based formalities will be strictly adhered to. When the time comes, you can be confident that the House will respond to that.

More than two-thirds of the 40-member legislative chamber impeached Obasa on January 13 due to allegations of financial offenses and malfeasance.

Obasa, however, has refuted these accusations, asserting that he is still the legitimate Speaker and that his dismissal was improper.

Ogundipe, the spokesperson for the Assembly, has insisted that Obasa’s dismissal was legal and compliant with the constitution.

According to him, the House will decide on the next course of action, including a potential investigation, once Obasa returns to his duties.

“I want to say that the process of his removal was constitutional, and the former Speaker, Rt Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, is still and will continue to be one of us,” Ogundipe stated.

As previously stated, the constitution is quite explicit regarding the procedure for bringing him in—the same procedure we used to dismiss him—should we wish to alter the guard. The procedure was properly followed, and we are aware of what we observed. We planned to switch guards, and we did just that.