LAHA Crisis: Move To Return Obasa As Speaker Thickens

By Akinwale Kasali

In the coming days, the Speakership crisis rocking the Lagos State House of Assembly will  be laid rest if information, allegedly, coming from the Presidency is anything to go by.

It is alleged that the Presidency has made overtures to the Lawmakers to soft-pedal and support the embattled former Speaker.

It was gathered that President Bola Tinubu has, allegedly, ordered members of the Governance Advisory Council, GAC,  to rein in the anti-Obasa Lawmakers, and make sure a compromise is reached for peace to reign.

This follows the disbandment of the Bisi Akande- Committee over its findings on the matter.

It would be recalled that a Committee was set up, headed by the former Osun State Governor and former All Progressives Congress, APC, Interim National Chairman, Akande, but was later disbanded owing to the report it submitted after its visit that the odds were against Obasa.

The  high-powered committee of the party led by  Akande and members including Aremo Olusegun Osoba, and former APC National Vice Chairman, South-west, Pius Akinyelure and others was meant to resolve the crisis.

It was gathered that after the disbandment of the Akande committee, members of GAC were asked to rein- in their loyalists in the Assembly and Executive to back Obasa.

According to a source: “The Bisi Akande committee has been disbanded. The President has reached out to members of GAC who have loyalists or children in the Assembly to insist they work for Obasa’s return as Speaker.

“For those who do not have children in the Assembly but have other political loyalists in the State Executive Council, they have been mandated to ensure Obasa is returned.

“Obasa, on the other hand, has also been reaching out to Lawmakers opposed to him in an attempt to gain their support”.

There is, however, fear that the decision of the Court could play a major part in the reconciliation process.

Justice Yetunde Rukayat Pinheiro of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, last Friday, adjourned the hearing of all pending applications in the lawsuit filed by Obasa, over his  impeachment to March 7, which may affect the move made by the Presidency.

The Chairman of GAC in Lagos State, Prince Tajudeen Olusi, had said the Council was not consulted before the removal of Obasa as Lagos Speaker, a major issue that is been contended.

Olusi: “Members of the GAC are not members of the Lagos State House of Assembly to allegedly be behind the removal of Obasa. It can’t be true.

“We read it also that morning. The Lawmakers carried it out without consulting the party and those of us in the GAC. That is our position.

“We invited all of them and insisted that all of them are products of the party. They lodged their complaints and we listened to them.

“I blamed them for one thing and that is for not lodging the complaints earlier before the party.

“It is for the party to decide, they (Lawmakers) have no absolute power to remove and install their leaders.”

It is not yet known  the fate that will befall Mojisola Meranda, Obasa’s Deputy, who was chosen by the Lawmakers as Obasa’s replacement if Obasa returns as Speaker. Will she still be Obasa’s Deputy, or chose to be a floor member?