BARELY 24 hours after being sworn in as Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, the Governance Advisory Council, GAC, of the All Progressives Congress, APC, yesterday, endorsed the emergence of Mrs Mojisola Lasbat Meranda as the new Speaker of the Assembly.
The GAC is the highest decision-making body of the party in the state.
The former Speaker, Mr Mudashiru Obasa was impeached over allegations of gross misconduct and abuse of office.
The GAC leadership endorsed Meranda as the new Speaker at a closed-door meeting with some key principal officers held at Lagos House, Marina.
At the meeting, Meranda sought the cooperation and support of the council members to succeed.
Speaking to newsmen after the meeting, the Speaker said: ”We briefed the GAC about what happened at the state House of Assembly and to seek their blessings which we have gotten.”
Meanwhile, the GAC, led by Tajudeen Olusi, declined to make any comment after the meeting.
It was, however, gathered that Governor Bababjide Sanwo-Olu left Nigeria on Monday night for an official event.
Sanwo-Olu not involved in Obasa’s impeachment —Spokesperson
Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to Governor Sanwo-Olu on Media, Mr Gboyega Akosile, yesterday, insisted that the governor had no hand in the impeachment of Obasa as speaker of the assembly.
Speaking about Sanwo-Olu’s alleged involvement in Obasa’s impeachment, Akosile said the governor believes strongly in the separation of powers and does not meddle in political skirmishes.
He said: “The Governor is a democrat, a complete gentleman who doesn’t meddle in people’s affairs. I can’t remember him talking about any of the incidents that you mentioned. Nothing of such bothers him.
“Mr Sanwo-Olu’s interest and focus is on how to develop the state further than he met it.
“This has been his major preoccupation since he assumed office as the governor of Lagos state and not to get himself involved in unproductive political skirmishes.
“Governor Sanwo-Olu believes strongly in the separation of powers. The action of the House was purely a legislative matter.”
Obasa overstepped his political boundary —Olanrewaju, ex-Communications Minister
Also reacting to Obasa’s impeachment, former Minister of Communications and Alternate Chairman, Board of Trustees, BOT, of De Renaissance Patriots, Maj. Gen. Tajudeen Olanrewaju (retd), yesterday, described the impeachment as the Law of Karma.
Olanrewaju, in a statement by the Media Office of De Renaissance Patriots Foundation, said the former Speaker overstepped his political boundary.
He said: “Karma is both action and the consequences of that action; it is cause and effect simultaneously because every action generates a force of energy that returns to us in like kind. There is nothing unfamiliar about the Law of Karma. Everybody has heard the expression. What you sow is what you reap.
“The choices that the former speaker Obasa made while in his exalted seat were that he overstepped his political boundary in many ways. Politicians, while playing their political ping pong game of arrogance and seeking more power in search of a dynastic crown, particularly in Lagos state, ignored the slippery ground.
“The road to the 2027 electoral contest will present never-ending challenges and compromises. Many politicians never realise that political power is not within their grasp but in the hands of power brokers and a kingmaker. Like the ancient Chinese emperors who suffered fools gladly, it is not an accident that Obasa’s open declaration to show his face without authorisation into the gubernatorial ring is an unpardonable ‘harakiri’.
“I remember that I warned the Speaker-to-be Obasa a few years ago not to contest for the speaker’s position for the third time. He should yield the post to an indigene, knowing that it was the right time for an indigene to be the speaker.
“The lessons to be learned from this authoritarian political action are to give power to the IBILE indigenous people of Lagos State, who can manage themselves better and more successfully. Who knows who is next? A stitch in time saves nine.”
