From the episodically unfolding events at the Lagos State House of Assembly, since a two-thirds majority drew the first blood by removing the House Speaker, Hon Mudashiru Obasa on 13 January, it seems the last is yet to be heard.
Accusations and counter-accusations which bothered on the remote and immediate causes of the fracas, are flying everywhere, while the embattled speaker is insisting on hanging on and giving it a fight.
The Nigerian variety of Byzantine politics and its zero-some effect doesn’t allow the political “victim” to take defeat lying low. This is the essence of many political fights and the tributaries of loyalty and disloyalty associated with them.
Even when it initially looked as though it was over for Hon Obasa, having been impeached in his absence and sentiments were already being whipped up against him on the account of financial misappropriation and administrative High-handedness, his initial public response at the “welcome rally” organised by his loyalists at his GRA Ikeja Residence already speaks of a “war” to come.
Hon Obasa is not relenting, as he has gone to Court to file a suit against the Assembly and the new Speaker, Mojisola Lasbat Meranda, to challenge the legality of his removal, while insisting that due process was not followed.
The argument of his Legal team is based on the constitutionality of the sittings and proceedings of the Lagos State Assembly to sit during recess without the speaker reconvening the House or giving anyone powers to do so. And this sounds like a good legal ground for the embattled Hon Obasa and his loyalists, to rekindle a forlorn hope.
While Obasa is in Court, notable drama is ongoing albeit successively. From the rumoured invasion of the House by the DSS to the equally rumoured resignation of the new Speaker, Rt Hon Meranda, and also the alleged but refuted meddlesomeness of the First Lady, the rumour mills are boozing and booming.
The most recent of these insinuations and rumours is the planned decamping of about 27 Members of the House to the opposition Labour Party. This jolted the State APC power apparatchiks, which led to a quick dispelling of the “rumour” by the Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Strategy, Hon Ogundipe Olukayode, who called it ” a false, misleading and deliberate attempt to mislead the public”
But something is missing in the whole game. The seeming taciturnity of President Tinubu while his home state is in turmoil and the urgent need to publicly rein in the warring parties is baffling. More so against the backdrop of his earlier rumoured interest in the crisis, which tilted towards the side of the sacked speaker.
Nobody should blame Hon Obasa for fighting. The easy or peaceful acceptance of his fate may mean the end of a long-nourished political life and relevance. Neither must you blame those who felt that change is needed to give the state legislative arm some respite and fresh air from the strangulating effect of a sit-tight Legislative tendency. It is a Catch-22 situation. It is called “Democracy Nigeriana.”
