A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Fouad Oki, says the immediate past Speaker of the Lagos state House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, had his impeachment coming as he had been behaving like an ‘’emperor” in the last eight months.
Obasa was removed as the house speaker on Monday, January 13, over allegations of gross misconduct and abuse of office. Mojisola Meranda, the deputy speaker, was subsequently elected to lead the house.
While speaking on Channels TV on Monday, January 13, Oki said anyone familiar with Lagos politics could have envisaged Obasa’s impeachment, noting that he had begun to see himself as an “emperor”.
“He saw himself as an emperor. It became very obvious that there was a need for a change in the leadership of the parliament in Lagos. If you cast your mind back, you must have seen this coming in the last 18 months. Recall the events on the day when the governor presented the 2025 appropriation bill and the leadership of the party was invited to the convention.
Not only was the governor kept waiting for over four hours, but the leadership of the party and all invited dignitaries were also kept waiting with no apologies or excuses. And when he came into the chambers, courtesies, too, were not extended to anyone.
Rather, it was a situation or an event of letting people know that I am the emperor here. One of the ways to check such an irresponsible attitude is by calling his excesses to order.” he said
Oki added that the impeachment was done in President Bola Tinubu’s best interest to see that Lagos continued to remain pivotal in terms of his political leadership.
“Before the president came home, this issue had been lingering. In the wisdom of members of the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC), the president’s attention was called. The president, as father and leader, called a meeting wherein he tried to make sense of the observations raised by elders of the party. Unfortunately, the president saw himself as a recalcitrant. I think that is what broke the camel’s back.” he said
