Lagos: How Obasa’s Fate Was Sealed During Tinubu’s Christmas Holiday – Report

Speaker Mudashiru Obasa was removed from his position as speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly after leading lights of the politics of the state convinced President Bola Tinubu of his unbearable disrespect for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Remarkably, his political adversaries waited till the former speaker embarked on a trip to the United States to strike. Remarkably, the move also came at the same time that President Tinubu was also on the opposite side of the world in the Middle East.

According to a report in The Punch Obasa’s fate might have been sealed during President Tinubu’s visit to Lagos for the festive season. Sources in the know said that the first sign of trouble for the speaker appeared when observers noticed a change in the President’s disposition towards him.

The ‘powerful’ Governor’s Advisory Council had visited the President at his Lagos home to report Obasa to Tinubu, who in addition to being the national of the ruling party also doubles as the godfather of Lagos politics.

The Chairman of GAC, Tajudeen Olusi, was said to have opened the discussion reminding the President of how highly the governor’s office was held in the state when he was governor between 1999 and 2007.

Olusi was then said to have told the President that the disrespect that Governor Sanwo-Olu had suffered at the hands of the Speaker was no longer acceptable.

According to sources, Olusi went on to reel off instances when the speaker disrespected the governor, including one instance where some elders had to physically intervene and reprimand the Speaker.

The President, a source at the meeting said, was quite displeased with the feedback given by the GAC leadership and went on to tongue-lash him. Tinubu reportedly excoriated Obasa for not just disrespecting the governor and his office, but also for poorly co-managing the politics of the state.

Tinubu allegedly cited the case of a bill being put forward by the Assembly to enable them to sack the Chairman of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission. A source at the meeting said the President scoffed at the idea, describing it as a huge joke, presided over by the speaker. The President, the source said, amused by the very idea, wondered aloud, “Which governor will sign such a bill into law, anyway?”

After the meeting was dismissed and everybody made to leave, the speaker was said to have run after the President into an inner room, in a bid to tell his side of the story and probably pacify a visibly angry Tinubu. Suspecting Obasa’s move, a couple of other GAC members allegedly joined in that second meeting, where the issues were further discussed and the Speaker was still condemned, by the majority.

‘He saw himself as an Emperor’

A chieftain of the APC, Fouad Oki, justified the impeachment of Obasa, saying the ex-speaker was beginning to see himself as an emperor. Reacting to Obasa’s removal on a Channels Television programme on Monday, Oki said the removal of the sixth-term APC lawmaker representing Agege Constituency I, was not unexpected for any discerning watcher of Lagos politics.

Oki said, “He saw himself as an emperor. It became very obvious that there was a need for a change in the leadership of the parliament in Lagos. If you cast your mind back, you must have seen this coming in the last 18 months.

“Recall the events on the day when the governor presented the 2025 appropriation bill and the leadership of the party was invited to the convention.

“Not only was the governor kept waiting for over four hours, but the leadership of the party and all invited dignitaries were also kept waiting with no apology given. And when he came into the chambers, courtesies, too, were not extended to anyone.

“Rather, it was a situation or an event of letting people know that “I am the emperor here.” One of the ways to check such an irresponsible attitude is by stopping his excesses,” he stated.

The grassroots politician stressed that the impeachment was done in Tinubu’s best interest to see that Lagos continued to remain pivotal in terms of his political leadership. He added, “Before the President came home, this issue had been lingering. In the wisdom of members of the Governor’s Advisory Council, the President’s attention was called. The President, as father and leader, called a meeting wherein he tried to make a sense out of the observations raised by elders of the party. Unfortunately, the President saw the (former) speaker as recalcitrant. I think that is what broke the camel’s back.”

With additional reports The Punch

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