Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly have insisted on retaining Honourable Mojisola Lasbat Meranda in office as Speaker in the aftermath of the removal of Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa on January 13, 2025.
They made their position known at a meeting held with members of the Governor’s Advisory Council, GAC, in Marina on Monday night, according to sundry media reports.
The lawmakers reportedly rejected the purported proposal by President Bola Tinubu that the leadership structure of the state legislature be reconsidered and reconstructed in alignment with power distribution within the understanding of balance, equity and justice in political interactions among the three senatorial zones.
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Elder statesman Prince Tajudeen Olusi was said to have delivered Tinubu’s message to the meeting, which centred on the proposed return of Obasa to the speaker’s position.
But one after the other, according to a report by TheLiberationnews, some ranking lawmakers stood up to oppose the president’s proposal that the Assembly should allow Obasa to return to his position after Meranda, according to the plan, must have resigned.
Honourables Rasheed Shabi, Kehinde Joseph, Abiodun Mustainu Tobun, Gbolahan Yishau and Ege Olusegun Adebisi took turns to speak against the president’s proposal that Obasa should be allowed to return for a brief period consequent upon which he would then resign in accordance with the presidential arrangement.
The ranking legislators that claimed to have spoken on behalf of other members of the Assembly, as reported, rejected the proposal.
They strengthened the resolve of Meranda not to resign and reaffirmed their support for her.
They also, suo motu, came up with a resolution to commute the removal of Obasa into resignation.
That was not all. Legislators from Lagos West, comprising ten local government areas as against five apiece for Lagos East snd Lagos Central, agreed to dispense with the zoning of the Speaker’s position to their zone.
Prince Olusi reportedly beckoned on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to make an intervention for the lawmakers to consider the president’s proposal but he opted to remain silent, allowing the lawmakers the free hands to take their decision in their own interest within the larger interest in such a way as to discount potential frictions.
The chairman of the GAC who also presided over the meeting at that moment asked if the lawmakers were ready to do a written resolution to be signed by all of them for onward transmission to the president in Abuja.
They all agreed to do the letter which was purportedly signed by all members present.
