… Obasa saw himself as emperor
… the impeachment of the Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa is a self-inflicted own goal—Jide Ojo

A highly ranked member of the All Progressives Congress APC in Lagos State, Fouad Oki, on Monday on The Channels’ programme, Politics Today rationalized the impeachment of former Lagos Speaker Mudashiru Obasa, alleging that he was beginning to see himself as an emperor.
Obasa, a sixth-term APC lawmaker representing Agege Constituency I, was removed by members of the Lagos State House of Assembly during a plenary session on Monday over multiple allegations of fraud.
He was subsequently replaced by his deputy Mojisola Meranda.
Mrs Meranda, who represents Apapa Constituency 1, was also a former chief whip of the house.
Mojeed Fatai is now the Deputy Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly
The Clerk of the House, Mr Olalekan Onafeko, was also suspended indefinitely.
According to Oki, who was down to earth in his assessment of the build up to the impeachment saga, he said any discerning mind who also understands Lagos politics would have seen the impeachment coming.
The former Lagos State Football Association chairman added that events of the last three months had also suggested that Obasa’s days were numbered.
“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 stated.
When asked about the role of President Bola Tinubu in the impeachment, Oki reiterated that the decision was the right thing to do.
He also stressed the impeachment was done in Tinubu’s best interest to see that Lagos continued to remain pivotal in terms of his political leadership.
He said, “Before the president came home, this issue has been lingering. In the wisdom of members of the Governors Advisory Council, GAC, the president’s attention was called.
“The president, as father and leader, called a meeting wherein he tried to make a sense out of the observations raised by elders of the party. Unfortunately, the president saw by himself a recalcitrant. I think that is what broke the camel’s back.”
Another political analyst, Jide Ojo, described the impeachment of the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa as a self-inflicted own goal.
Ojo, who was a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, said that snide remarks at Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu may have counted as one of Obasa’s offences that earned him the impeachment.
He said, “On social media, most allusions were that he (Obasa) was disrespectful to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in the way he carried out the budget presentation exercise, particularly when he made that snide remark that I am not too young or inexperienced to be the governor of the state and I am more qualified than some of those people who are there.
“So, it’s presumed to be a snide remark at a sitting governor. Incidentally, as a speaker or deputy speaker of the House of Assembly, you do not have immunity, you are just there at the grace of your members.
“I don’t know what might have prompted Obasa to behave the way he did because if what he is alleged to have done has been revealed which is politics behind the scene of keeping the governor waiting for several hours, keeping the party elders waiting and no apologies and then the President weighing in and you are showing some stubbornness and recalcitrant, well those the gods want to destroy they first make whatever.
“So, I believe this may have been a self-inflicted own goal if I want to call it own goal.”
Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday impeached Obasa, accusing him of multiple statutory and financial infractions.
He was subsequently replaced by his deputy Mojisola Meranda.