Lagos: Meranda Was Gov Sanwo-Olu’s Candidate For Speaker; What You Need To Know

By Akinwale Kasali

The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly,  Mojisola Lasbat Meranda has etched her name on the marble of history  as the first woman to hold that position in the state checkered history.

As the first Lagos female speaker, Meranda has shattered records as the state’s number three citizen, only next to the Governor and his deputy.

According to checks by the magazine no fewer than nine female House of Assembly Speakers have emerged across the federation since the return to participatory democracy in 1999.

But the  narratives changed on January 13, 2025, when by providence, Meranda, a former Deputy Speaker was elected  Speaker of LAHA following the shocked impeachment of Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa.

Meranda has been in House since 2015 when she won the Assembly seat, representing Apapa 1 Constituency, and has been re-elected to the Assembly by her constituency since then.

Following the governorship election in the state in 2023, the lawmaker representing Apapa state constituency had challenged Obasa for the Speakership, reportedly backed by  Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-olu, but lost the bid.

Having lost the contest to Obasa as a result of the high intrigues and calculations by power brokers, Meranda, could not, by any figment of imagination thought that she would rise to the exalted position, which fate has now entrusted to her.

Apart from enjoying Governor Sanwo-Olu’s backing, the new Speaker, according to sources is the younger sister of Oba Oniru, His Royal Highness, Abdulwasiu Omogbolahan Lawal.

Other political observers also insist that Meranda’s rise to political prominence may not be unconnected with the cozy relationship between Oba Oniru  and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other power brokers in ths state. The monarch was Tinubu’s Police Orderly while he was governor of the state from 1999-2007.

Mojisola Lasbat Meranda was born on August 16, 1980, into the royal families of Ojora, Aromire, Onitana, Oloto, and Oniru.

She attended Randle Primary School and later Lagos Anglican Girls Grammar School and Ansar-Ud-Deen Secondary School.

Meranda earned a degree in Public Administration from Lagos State University in 2013 and pursued further studies at the University of Lagos.

She worked with the Lagos State government in various capacities, as well as in the private sector, as a procurement manager at Cirrus Nigeria Limited.

Meanwhile, Governor Sanwo-Olu has debunked suggestions that he played a part in Monday’s  leadership change in the assembly.