Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, is locked in a heated dispute with Mojisola Meranda over her authorisation of a N5 billion withdrawal from the assembly’s account to purchase vehicles for lawmakers, days after replacing him as speaker following his impeachment in January.
According to sources familiar with the situation, the conflict between Mr Obasa and his deputy, Ms Meranda, arose from her approval of N5 billion to buy 40 units of 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser SUVs—one for each lawmaker—shortly after she was sworn in as Lagos State’s first female speaker on January 13.
“Another serious crisis is brewing in the Lagos Assembly,” the sources revealed.
“This is because Mr. Obasa is angry that Mojisola Meranda didn’t even wait for weeks to pass before she withdrew N5 billion from the assembly’s account to buy 40 2025 Toyota Land Cruisers for lawmakers after she replaced him as speaker.”
Following his re-election as speaker on March 3—an order allegedly influenced by Bola Tinubu—Mr Obasa began pressuring Ms. Meranda to return the N5 billion, arguing she lacked the authority to approve the withdrawal.
Ms Meranda’s 49-day tenure ended after intense pressure from Tinubu on lawmakers and the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership in Lagos to reinstate Mr Obasa.
Mr Obasa had planned to disburse N7 billion before his removal to purchase 45 Toyota Fortuner SUVs—40 for lawmakers, one for the house clerk, and the remaining four for himself and his two wives.
“Immediately Mr Obasa was re-elected as speaker after President Bola Tinubu ordered it, he started to put pressure on Ms Meranda to return the N5 billion she approved to buy the latest Land Cruisers because the speaker had his own plan on the cars to buy for the assembly members before he was sacked,” a source stated.
The situation has created further unrest, with lawmakers refusing to return the Land Cruisers, unwilling to swap the 2025 models for the less expensive 2020 Fortuner SUVs planned by Mr. Obasa.
“Mr. speaker is not letting the matter go anytime soon, and he has asked Ms. Meranda and the other lawmakers to immediately return the Land Cruisers in their possession, but they have all refused because they don’t want to release the latest cars for lesser 2020 Fortuner vehicles,” the source added.
