- Obasa’s imminent reinstatement as speaker is being facilitated by President Bola Tinubu who is mounting pressure on other lawmakers to accede to his demand, Peoples Gazette reports.
The crisis rocking the Lagos State House of Assembly has taken a new dimension as the former speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, who was unceremoniously removed gears up for a comeback, not as a floor member but as the speaker.
Obasa’s imminent reinstatement as speaker is being facilitated by President Bola Tinubu who is mounting pressure on other lawmakers to accede to his demand, Peoples Gazette reports.
The move to return Obasa as speaker is coming three weeks after his impeachment which caused ripples in the political waters of the nation’s commercial centre.
According to the report, Tinubu told the lawmakers to brace up for Obasa’s return as speaker because casting him adrift portends danger for the party and could sink its ship.
He added that the price of undermining Obasa politically, which his removal as speaker seeks to achieve, potentially outweighs the benefits of punishing his transgressions, which bordered largely on grand larceny and abuse of office, the newspaper quoted two sources privy to the development as saying.
“The president has sent instruction that we should start preparing to let him come back,” a senior Lagos politician who participated in a series of meetings this weekend said. “The president said Obasa will spend only a short time before resigning on his terms.”
“We have agreed to let him come back to give him a soft landing that he told us he deserved because of the serious political consequences of allowing this matter to endure,” the politician said anonymously to discuss the minutiae of internal political deliberations. “I would do it differently if you asked me to be the ultimate decision-maker in this matter.”
However, some lawmakers, especially those who play key role in his impeachment, expressed concern over his imminent return, fearing he could become vindictive and vengeful in his actions.
“We’re afraid that bringing him back will be like trying to pacify a snake after its head was severed,” a source said. “Its venom will be super deadly.”
Another senior political operative in Lagos told The Gazette the president had summoned a meeting in Abuja on Monday, where those not already onboard would be admonished to get in line.
“Many of us have agreed that he should be allowed to return because we can only see the beginning of this fight but not how it may end,” the politician said. ” The meeting is scheduled for Monday, and some of us still in Lagos are already preparing to leave for Abuja.”
Since January 13, when Ms Meranda was inaugurated as Speaker, she has not been allowed to move into the official residence along Joel Ogunnaike, Ikeja G.R.A. The Gazette was told that Mr Obasa, who was in the United States during his impeachment, went directly to the Speaker’s Lodge when he landed in Abuja from Atlanta and later triumphantly returned to Lagos. Upon his return, he denounced his impeachment as illegal and vowed to remain in office.
“He said they should let him enter the official lodge to remove his personal belongings,” a source said. “But he has refused to vacate the place, and Madam Speaker has been too afraid to take over from him.”
Tinubu’s move to reinstate Obasa should deepen divisions and widen cracks within the Lagos political circles, but the president’s grip on the state’s politics meant no lawmaker would risk being seen as reluctant to follow his directive, a source said.
“Look, some lawmakers are very angry that the president decided to humiliate them like this,” our source said. “But they don’t want to lead any resistance against the president, who is also the party’s leader.”
Discussion about this post