Governance Advisory Council speaks on Lagos Assembly crisis

The Chairperson, Governance Advisory Council (GAC) in Lagos State, Tajudeen Olusi, on Friday said the council was not consulted before Mudashiru Obasa was impeached as speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.

Mr Olusi, speaking with newsmen in an interview at his residence in Lagos, said lawmakers neither consulted the party nor the council.

He said that the council should not be dragged into the leadership crisis that saw the removal of Mr Obasa and his replacement by the Deputy Speaker, Mojisola Meranda.

“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.

“Nobody can become a member of the House of Assembly unless sponsors by a political party and the sponsors are the inspectors,” Olusi said.

The APC chieftain said the speakership crisis in the House remained a problem between Mr Obasa and his colleagues in the House.

“The problem is the speaker (Obasa) and his colleagues which had led to his removal. It is a disputer among them,” he added.

He said no organ of government was totally independent of the other, adding that the party, GAC and another high powered committee set up was working tirelessly to resolve the dispute.

“Currently, there is a high powered committee of the party led by Chief Bisi Akande and members, including Aremo Olusegun Osoba, and former APC National Vice Chairman, South-west, Chief Pius Akinyelure and others,

“They are working and making efforts to resolve the matter. I know they are in consultation with the House of Assembly, Obasa and the other Speaker, Mrs Mojisola Lasbat Meranda.

“Those of us in the GAC and the Chairman of the Party, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi are doing all within our power to assist the committee,” he added.

Speaking on dissenting views expressed by some members of the GAC, Mr Olusi said those who spoke expressed their individual views, which they were entitled to, not the GAC’s.

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“One day, and very soon the matter will be settled. Dispute and differences are fact of life and dispute resolution and party mechanisms are also there.

“You leave us alone, as a party we are conscious of our responsibility and that of the House of Assembly; we are going to do all within our powers to resolve the dispute,

“The overall responsibility is on the party,” he added.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the leadership crisis took a new dimension on Thursday when the impeached speaker stormed the Assembly and insisted that he was never removed.

Mr Obasa, who spoke with reporters shortly after he arrived the assembly complex with some security personnel, said that he had returned to the assembly to take charge.

The visit was Mr Obasa’s first appearance at the complex after he was impeached by his colleagues in January over alleged misconduct and financial impropriety.

The impeached speaker returned on a day the security details of Mrs Meranda, were withdrawn.

(NAN)