By Uche Amunike
After a marathon meeting held by members of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) at the Governor’s Lodge in Marina, Lagos, Monday, it is likely that the lawmakers at the Lagos State House of Assembly may apologize to President Tinubu for the removal of Mudashiru Obasa as Speaker.
Speaking, with newsmen, members of the GAC, who spoke with newsmen stated that the meeting continued on Tuesday where they consistently argued that Obasa’s removal on January 13, 2025 was not only a mark of disrespect to the leadership of the All Progressives Congress, in Lagos, but also illegal.
They have directed the lawmakers to write a letter to the party’s national leader, President Bola Tinubu, to keep him updated of their position in the matter.
Note that the GAC is the highest decision-making organ of the APC in the state, where party members hold the majority of positions in the Lagos State Government, including the State Assembly.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat were present at the GAC meeting, as well as the leadership of the Lagos State House of Assembly and other lawmakers.
A member of the GAC, Chief Muraina Taiwo said that even though the council told the lawmakers ‘the mind of the party’, it was clear that they had made up their minds to retain the Deputy Speaker, Mojisola Meranda, as the new Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
Recall that the former Deputy Speaker of the House emerged as Speaker in a unanimous decision made by the lawmakers after Obasa was removed.
According to news reports from THE PUNCH, Chief Taiwo had recently queried Obasa’s removal. He stated in an interview with THE PUNCH on Tuesday, that it was expedient for the lawmakers to give Obasa the opportunity to return to the House where he may consider resigning by himself, reiterating that the GAC had told the lawmakers their stand on the matter and yet, they insisted that their minds were made up and they would stand by their position in the matter.
Hear him: ‘I’m aware that the GAC told them the mind of the party and the honorable members said they had made up their minds and they stand by it.’
They also decided that they would state their grievances in writing and forward them to President Tinubu in Abuja.
‘Let us wait and see between now and tomorrow (today) or thereafter, maybe by the time they come back from Abuja, we know the way forward’, he said.
The APC chieftain also made it clear that the lawmakers were not in the position to force Obasa to resign.
His words: ‘My stand is that the lawmakers should obey the directive of the leadership (of the party) and allow the Speaker to resume work and cooperate with him. To resign, that is his (Obasa’s) own decision, not that they will force him to resign.’
Speaking, on what the directive of GAC really was, he stated: ‘The directive of the leadership is that they should allow him to continue his work because the leadership has considered that if he has committed any visible offense, we would have known, and they have not reported him before. What they did is not right politically and constitutionally.’
He maintained that it was proper for the lawmakers to inform the President of their decisions because ‘We believe Tinubu is our leader and will continue to be our leader forever.’
