Obasa said this on Saturday during a welcome event hosted in his honour by supporters from Agege, Alimosho, and Kosofe local government areas in Ikeja GRA. Mudashiru Obasa, the recently impeached Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, claims his impeachment was carried out using a fake mace....Read Full Article >>➤
Obasa said this on Saturday during a welcome event hosted in his honour by supporters from Agege, Alimosho, and Kosofe local government areas in Ikeja GRA. Obasa’s impeachment on January 13, 2025, was a result of allegations of gross misconduct and abuse of office, which led to his deputy, Mojisola Meranda, being elected and sworn in as his successor. However, he described his impeachment as unlawful and null and void.
Obasa argued that the impeachment process didn’t adhere to constitutional procedures.
Addressing his supporters following his return to Lagos on Saturday, Obasa said, “Let me ask you, early in the morning of that day, policemen invaded the House of Assembly, led by the commissioner of police. What was he doing in the House of Assembly? What was his business in the House of Assembly?
“My house in Agege was invaded by more than 200 policemen and this house was blocked, my people from Agege were detained in a black Maria. My children did not sleep in this house on that day because they were locked out and my wife kept inside. House arrest!”
According to him, he was not bothered, only that the impeachment “should have followed due process”.
He said, “Thank God for my people in Agege, they have repeatedly returned me to represent them for six times. So what should I be afraid?
“All we are saying is that if you want to achieve something, do it well, and not because you realise that I’m out of the country and you have more policemen to invade the House of Assembly, to invade my house in GRA, invade my house in Agege; it doesn’t make sense.”
“Lagos is a state that others look up to, we must delegate Lagos, we must not pull it down,” he added.
He admitted that he has been involved in the removal of other people from their positions in the assembly, but claimed they were done in accordance with the law.
“Fine, I cannot deny the fact. But let us ask questions, when Pelumi, my brother, who I love so much and fondly call Brother Waheed, was removed, he was in the House and there was no police involvement. It was done on the floor of the House without any breaking into the chamber and without presenting (a) fake mace.
“When Tejuoso, my lovely sister and friend, was removed as deputy speaker, we were all there on the floor of the House. We did not invite any police; it was done peacefully. And the members that were suspended, it was done by the majority of the House on the floor of the House,” he said.
WATCH: I Remain Lagos Assembly Speaker As Due Process Wasn’t Followed In My Removal – @mudashiru_obasa pic.twitter.com/mu6hgkyC1M
— Sahara Reporters (@SaharaReporters) January 25, 2025
SaharaReporters earlier on Saturday reported that during a meeting with President Bola Tinubu, Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and some other All Progressives Congress stakeholders following Obasa’s impeachment, he argued that his impeachment ought to be nullified because he had hidden the two maces in possession of the state House of Assembly.
However, he was informed that the mace used during the session in which he was impeached was brought from the old Assembly building.
One of the sources said, “President Tinubu had summoned all the stakeholders; Lagos lawmakers, Lagos Governor’s Advisory Council, Obasa himself and Lagos Governor to Abuja for consultations and understanding.
“The President was unhappy the removal of Obasa was orchestrated without his express approval, and that he learnt about it from the news and social media. Except this lack of approval, he told Obasa that “he was not born a Speaker, and that speakership was not created with him”.
“Obasa pushed for the nullification of his impeachment on the grounds that the mace used to conduct business of the day on that fateful day wasn’t the official mace of the Lagos House of Assembly, considering he hid away the two maces while travelling out of the country.
“The lawmakers defeated his argument by confirming the mace used as the old mace of the parliament in the old building of the assembly. Seeing the futility of his claims, Obasa requested the President to prevail on the new leadership to grant him access to his belongings at the Speaker’s lodge and guest house. This was granted by the President,” the source added.
Background
Obasa was impeached by more than two-thirds of the 40-member legislative house over alleged misconduct and sundry offences.
Obasa’s deputy, Mojisola Lasbat Meranda, was immediately elected the new Speaker, becoming the first female to take charge of the legislative body in the South-West state.
Obasa, from Agege Constituency I, was first elected into the House in 2007. He has since been in the chamber since then. He emerged speaker in June 2015 before his removal in January 2025.
On Monday, January 13, 2025, Obasa was impeached for gross misconduct and abuse of office.
On May 14, 2020, SaharaReporters reported that in another misuse of public funds and abuse of office, then Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Obasa, received N53m from the state coffers to travel with his mistress to the United States of America.
The report said Obasa got the House to approve the fund to facilitate a trip to Georgia, United States, for the 2019 US-Nigeria Trade and Investment Global Summit, which he was billed to attend with some members of the Assembly and their staff.
The event was subsequently postponed but rather than return the fund to the state’s treasury, Obasa diverted the funds for personal use as he travelled to the US with his mistress.
In a document sighted by SaharaReporters dated October 15, 2019, Obasa had requested the Assembly to release the funds so he could attend the summit along with one of his staff.
The document partly read, “Given the above, kindly seek approval of the Rt. Hon. Speaker for release of the sum of N53,719,405 only to enable them to attend the programme.
“Hon. Speaker, please read from page 39 of file. You are respectfully invited to consider and approve the release of N53,719,405 to facilitate the attendance of the Hon. Speaker, Hon. members and one member of staff at the Y2019 US – Nigeria Trade and Investment Global Summit scheduled to take place in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, from 26th – 28th September 2019.”
It was gathered that though the meeting was rescheduled, Obasa travelled to the US with his mistress in place of his legislative staff.
An official of the Lagos Assembly, who spoke with SaharaReporters, said the Speaker was always in the habit of travelling with his mistress in place of his staff whenever he was leaving the country for official purpose.
“The Speaker and his mistress, who doubles as his protocol and external relations officer in the Assembly, only went to the US after collecting N53m for the US-Nigeria Trade and Investment Global Summit.
“No other staff or member of the Assembly travelled with the Speaker or attended the event,” the source said.
Another person close to the Speaker’s team also confirmed the lamentation and anger of some of the staff listed on this approval, who couldn’t embark on the trip or got a share of the money.
SaharaReporters had also exposed how Obasa fraudulently approved millions of naira for himself through the award of contracts to companies owned by him.
Other reports also revealed how he approved N17m monthly to maintain his personal residence and guest house. ...Read Full Article >>➤
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