Lagos Assembly Crisis: Tinubu, GAC struggle to resolve Obasa’s removal

The last may not have been heard over the removal of the embattled former Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, as leaders of the Governor’s Advisory Council, GAC, of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Lagos visited President Bola Tinubu to brief him on the deadlock meeting with lawmakers on Tuesday.

GAC convened an emergency meeting with members of the Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday to resolve the lingering leadership crisis in the state Assembly.

Recall that on January 13, 2025, 32 out of 40 members of the state House of Assembly removed Obasa in absentia over alleged financial misappropriation, misconduct, and high-handedness, among other things, and replaced him with his erstwhile deputy Mojisola Lasbat Meranda as a substantive speaker, leading to conflicting reactions among members of the GAC, party faithful, and the general public.

However, after Obasa’s removal, the unfolding events further polarized the ranks of GAC.

The meeting, which started about noon, was held at the Lagos House, Marina, the official residence of the state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. There were 39 members, excluding Obasa.

Pa Tajudeen Olusi leads GAC, the apex decision-making organ of APC, whose decisions are binding on members.

The GAC had a similar meeting about two weeks ago at the same venue over developments at the Lagos House of Assembly.

The crucial meeting, which included quite a number of GAC members and the majority of the state assembly, lasted several hours. There was overwhelming support for the leadership of Meranda against all odds.

The issue centered around the fact that the speakership should be ceded to Lagos West because the current Governor and newly elected Speaker are from Lagos Central. Hence, there was a need to elect a new speaker among Lagos West lawmakers, which eventually did not scale through.

However, the lawmakers from the western region, about 20, were unperturbed and conceded to supporting the new speaker, turning down GAC’s offer. Thus, Meranda continued as a substantive speaker.

Obasa is believed to be backed by powerful forces within the Tinubu family and caucus. It was gathered that Tinubu had mandated GAC to intervene and resolve the matter amicably.

Tinubu had earlier met all stakeholders, including Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at the Presidential Lodge, Ikoyi, Lagos, during the last Yuletide break.

However, at the end of Monday’s meeting, moderated by Sanwo-Olu, Meranda remained as the speaker, leading to wild jubilation again among lawmakers and staff members of the state Assembly.

“The intention to replace Meranda as Speaker failed. But it was about senatorial districts balancing for the speakership, which was extensively discussed.

“The contentious issue was resolved yesterday, which was the need to carry along Lagos West by leaders and chieftains of the party,” the source told Vanguard.

GAC at crossroad

In sharp contrast to the known and established tradition of the GAC’s modus operandi in making decisions affecting governance and political issues in the State, the voice of its founder seems to be at sharp variance on the issue of Obasa.

The group’s last outing on Monday, February 3, at the Marina State House smacks of a major shift in political control. The majority of the members are dancing to the tunes of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the new powerful man in charge. President Tinubu is now based in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, and is obviously preoccupied with myriad national issues.

This is the exact script that was staged, as the settlement regarding the crisis rocking the Lagos State House of Assembly arising from Obasa’s removal as speaker is still out of sight.

The January 13 decision of 32 lawmakers to remove Obasa from the exalted seat and elect Meranda into office has been met with opposition from the erstwhile speaker and his supporters within the fold of the ruling party in the State, the APC in Lagos and GAC.

Senator Anthony Adefuye and Muraino Taiwo, two influential members of the GAC, took turns criticising the impeachment of the lawmaker representing Agege Constituency 1, describing the process as “illegal.”

According to certain reports, their position gained President Bola Tinubu’s support.

Tinubu, a tested democrat, is said to have described Obasa’s removal as a “coup” and ordered Meranda’s resignation and the reinstatement of Obasa, pending the time a new Speaker would be elected.

According to updates, the presidential directive is facing resistance from a quarter of conservative members in GAC under the leadership of Prince Tajudeen Olusi.

GAC meeting report emerges

The purpose of the meeting was reportedly to finalize plans for the presidential directive.

Sources stated that Prince Olusi, the GAC Chairman and leader of the Justice Forum, took a different course from the one laid down by the President.

As usual, Baba Olusi presided over the meeting and said that the President directed them to maintain the present arrangement in the State House of Assembly.

Similarly, he requested that the ranking Honourable Members from Lagos West select three among them and forward the names to him for onward presentation to President Tinubu.

Apparently, this was staged, as there was a prior meeting among the Justice Forum members of GAC where the names of Temitope Adedeji of Ifako-Ijaiye Constituency 1, David Setonji of Badagry Constituency 2 and Wale Rauf of Amuwo-Odofin Constituency 2 were finalized and shortlisted for presentation to the President.

As part of the dramatic scenes, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro briefed Wale Rauf to reject the overture on behalf of his colleagues from Lagos West, and he stood up to do just that, affirming that they had resolved to support the speakership of Mojisola Meranda.

This development led to coercing all the lawmakers to sign an undertaking, which will also be presented to the President as evidence.

“The contradictory statement from Baba Olusi riled Senator Ganiyu Solomon, another distinguished member who told him he was misquoting Tinubu’s instruction to the members.

“The meeting was characterized by tension to the point that it ended in a deadlock,” the source narrated.

Another revelation suggested that Governor Sanwo-Olu, whose relationship with Obasa is strained, is complicit in the opposition to Obasa’s reinstatement in line with Tinubu’s instruction to return him to his previous office in a temporary position.

“Tinubu’s instruction also does not sit well with Governor Sanwo-Olu, but he is careful not to be seen as openly opposing the presidential order.

“On the eve of the meeting, he met with some progressive members to brief them about Mr President’s directive.

“That same day, he had a meeting with some lawmakers to encourage them to continue their opposition to Obasa returning as the Speaker of the House,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the GAC had taken the matter to Abuja for final and further action.