Olorunnibe Mamora, a minister and former speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, has advised Mojisola Meranda, the just sworn-in speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, to stay away from potential banana peels in order for her to succeed.
This comes as Meranda formally took over as Speaker on Monday, putting an end to the dispute over Assembly leadership. Last Saturday, after returning from America, ousted Speaker Obasa declared he was still the Speaker of the House despite being removed by a majority of more than two-thirds of members, which he claimed was “unconstitutional.”
According to Obasa, the Assembly’s removal was not done in accordance with due procedure.
Due to accusations of wrongdoing and financial mismanagement, 35 of the Assembly’s 40 members ousted the troubled former Speaker on January 13, 2025, and Mojisola Lasbat-Meranda, his former deputy, took his place.
From 1999 until 2003, Mamora served as the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly. Under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, he also served as the Conference of Speakers’ chairman from 2000 to 2000, a senator from 2003 to 2011, the Lagos East Senatorial District’s senator from 2003 to 2011, the Minister of State for Health from 2019 to 2022, and the Minister of Science and Technology from 2022 to 2023.
Mamora was reelected in 2007 after winning a seat in the Senate in April 2003. From 2003 to 2006, he was also a member of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWA. He was named the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions’ chairman in 2003.
He was named to the Senate’s Upstream Petroleum Resources, Selection Committee, Health, and Federal Character & Inter-Government Affairs committees after he returned to the Senate in 2007.
He sponsored measures on tenure of office, the Surgeon-General of Nigeria, and the repeal and reform of the Tobacco Control Act during a midterm examination of senators in May 2009. Additionally, he sponsored or co-sponsored motions, such as one to change Senate Rule 111 to correspond to the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s Constitution. It was said that Mamora was an expert in parliamentary procedures.
Mamora wished the new Speaker a successful term and gave her advice on what to do and what not to do in an exclusive chat with our correspondent.
“I believe Lagos State already has something to be proud of,” he continues. To the best of my knowledge, Lagos State has produced more notable deputy governors than any other state in this nation. If my understanding is correct, this is the case.
That’s a good thing, then. Up till today, Lagos has not produced any female speakers, but other states in the nation have.
So, once more, I stated that it’s a bonus. An advantage is that Lagos State is now one of the states with a female speaker. Gender equality—or, to put it another way, gender sensitivity.
In other words, it is not sufficient to just state, “Oh, we have a female speaker.” It is more crucial that the current occupant of that post, who also happens to be a woman, provide evidence to support her position.
She has now been given an opportunity. “Ise lama bi ni wa, aki nbani se ise,” as the Yoruba would say, means that you simply assist someone in finding employment. You don’t perform the task for the individual.
Now is the moment for her to do her duties in accordance with the expectations of the public. Additionally, the first assumption is what his colleagues—that is, her colleagues—expect.
She has been asked to lead Lagos State because she has in fact done so. The first task is that. The Legos State has called on her to serve as its leader.
She has been given the task of defending her leadership call as her first task. The first thing is that. Naturally, she will be happy with her job as Speaker of the Legos State House of Assembly after she effectively completes that task. The state’s citizens are represented in the Assembly.
Second, she is supposed to defend women as well. Because yes, we had arrived, and yes, a lot of women were dancing and celebrating. She must, however, also clarify the expectations of the women of Legos State and other states. She has to put a lot of effort into defending the delight of having a female speaker.
The next step is to make sure she doesn’t fall into the same pit as her predecessor or, to put it another way, into a different one. Banana peels are a topic of discussion in the legislation.
When you step on banana peel, it slips. Therefore, it is best to avoid stepping on banana peels. What does she need to do? Let her look at those allegations against her predecessor. In that statement, as read out, the colleagues talked of high-handedness, financial misappropriation, or whatever. They spoke of unfairness to their colleagues.
“They talked of intimidation. So, she should have a look at those things. And when she looks at those things, what does she do? She must ensure that she does not do similar things that her predecessor was accused of. Of course, if those allegations are true.
“Fourthly, I think she needs to constantly, and I repeat, continually do what I call reality checks.
“You see, my faith, the faith I profess is Christianity. Our Lord Jesus Christ, at some point, called his disciples and asked what people think of me; that is a reality check.
“Call your colleagues regularly and ask how I am doing on this assignment. You can even go to the most hostile or seen as unfriendly to you and ask for advice and assessment. Converse with them individually.
“They are your colleagues, not an enemy or less critical. You are all elected into the house. I do visit colleagues individually during my tenure. That is a relationship. Those were the things I was doing as a speaker, and I never looked back, but it paid out. By the grace of God, I never felt threatened.
“You can’t be perfect; you should be fair and be seen to be fair, just and be template. Respect your colleagues and equality. You must constantly remind yourself of that reality.
“Finally, financial accountability and transparency should be her watchword. I put in place a fund management committee during my tenure to manage whatever funds were available for the house. The committee will determine and prioritize projects that align with our agenda.
“The committee will come up with recommendations and have closed-door parliamentary meetings where the chairman of the committee will present, and the house as a whole will pass, and I, as a speaker, sign for approval as the head. That is transparency. And I have my record of financial disbursement from the collective tools of the house. That was why I had a smooth tenure by God’s grace.
“And also, as a leader, the Speaker should know that they know. That means she has to read. Master your rules and Constitution so that your colleagues cannot bamboozle you on the floor of the house. That will give confidence.
“So, when any member is going out the way, you use the proper instrumentality of the rules to call them to order. You must be conversant with the Constitution. There is so much to do.
“Then again, and very important, you must maintain cordiality with the executive arm. There has to be cordiality. Because respect begets respect, you respect the Governor, and the Governor will respect you back; the same goes for the chief judge, commissioner, clerk, and even staff of the Assembly, as well as journalists. Respect is mutual and reciprocal.
“Also, constantly remind yourself that the position is transient, temporary. Even life is transient. It’s just for a while.
“Above all, put God first. The fact that you are there does not necessarily mean you are the best among your colleagues, but you are just the most favored at the time. Have the fear of God, and you will not fall on banana peels.”
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