Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa has said the House rejected 17 of the 39 commissioners-nominee forwarded by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to protect the All Progressives Congress (APC’s) interest.
He said the House remained an independent body, empowered by the Constitution. “And we have exercised this responsibility by clearing some and rejecting some. We have our reasons for saying no,” he noted.
The Speaker, who presided over yesterday’s plenary, reiterated that no threat of attacks or intimidation could force the House to change its decision on the 17 rejected nominees.
He also debunked rumours of rancour between him and Governor Sanwo-Olu.
Said he: “We are still brothers and no rancour whatsoever, but the pure performance of constitutional roles assigned to the legislature. We’ve been around together for a long time. When he became the governor, I became the speaker. In the last four years, we have been working together. So I wonder why any time we say no to the governor’s request, it becomes an issue, and the so-called ‘enlightened’ conclude that we are fighting the governor. The House came up with so many resolutions that the Executive did not carry out. Nobody noticed that nobody has said anything about that.”
The Speaker also berated the rejected nominees for wanting to “reap where they did not sow.” He said they would not have gotten appointments if there was no party, or if the party had lost the election.
He added: “We must get this right that we have our own constitutional responsibility, and we have exercised this by clearing some and denying some. We have our own reasons for saying no, which I believe people are not privy to.
“They say we are placing politics ahead of technocrats! What technocrat? What do you mean by a technocrat, who is not a technocrat in this hallowed chamber?
“We must understand that political party is about a group of people who aspire to gain power. We gained the power since 1999 and we have to sustain it. We must protect our party. We’ve had technocrats in the past and this will come and go, but we will remain.
“So, I am trying to protect my party and I will continue to do that, but we will not sacrifice service to our people in the name of technocrats, no. We are politicians, and if not for us, the technocrats won’t be appointed. It is because of our success that they got appointments and, to our own estimation if they have not done well. I think we have the right to say no, and we have said no.
“If anybody is interested in knowing why we have taken such decisions, they should approach the House. The House has also restrained itself from exposing what it discovered during the screening, and we would not be forced to spill.
“We will not be threatened or intimidated, the civil society organisations can as well protest, it is their constitutional right, but we won’t be intimidated, we have said no and it remains so.
“If there is any reason to reverse our decision, if there is a germane and convincing reason, I think we will, but not by threat.”
