When Mojisola Meranda, the state’s first female speaker, resigned on Monday, a wave of resignations and reorganizations swept through the Lagos State House of Assembly.
After Apapa Constituency I representative Meranda resigned during the session, legislators promptly re-elected her as the Assembly’s deputy speaker.
She brought calm to the Lagos State House of Assembly, and the lawmakers praised her leadership style. For adhering to the guidelines set forth by the All Progressives Congress (APC), they also praised her fortitude and modesty.
Meranda resigned after reportedly meeting with some of the state’s top APC officials to discuss the leadership crisis that has shook the party’s sacred chambers for the past seven weeks.
The Speaker of Agege Constituency I, Mudashiru Obasa, was re-elected after she resigned. He was nominated by Noheem Adams, a former Majority Leader of the House who represents Eti-Osa Constituency 1.
It was seven weeks after his dismissal that Obasa took the oath of office as the new Speaker of the Assembly. He was elected to the House for the first time in 2007. Ever since then, he has been in the room. Before being removed in January 2025, he became a speaker in June 2015.
Either chess or Game of Thrones?
Mojeed Fatai, the Deputy Speaker of the House and the representative for Ibeju-Lekki Constituency I, also announced his resignation.
“I resigned for the benefit of the House,” Fatai stated. As the Assembly’s Chief Whip, he was elected again right away.
The Assembly’s Chief Whip, Setonji David, who serves in Badagry constituency II, likewise resigned and was chosen again as the house’s Deputy Chief Whip.
Also resigning as the House’s Deputy Chief Whip was Okanlawon Sanni, a member of the House from Kosofe Constituency I.
The Assembly’s leadership crisis reached a full-blown stage on January 13, 2025, when Obasa was ousted as speaker of Lagos by nearly two-thirds of the 40-member house due to allegations of misbehavior and other infractions.
Meranda, who had previously served as Obasa’s deputy, was elected Speaker right away, making her the first woman to lead the South-West state’s legislature.
Obasa strongly opposed his dismissal on January 25, 2025, and continued to serve as speaker until the proper action was taken. He criticized the impeachment process for militarizing the assembly complex. He further asserted that he was not there when he was removed as speaker, meaning that he was not in Nigeria.
Meranda’s supporters, however, argued that Meranda was still the House speaker and that Obasa’s dismissal was definitive.
A fight broke out between security personnel and certain legislative staff on February 17, 2025, at the Assembly Complex over the former’s presence in the sacred chambers. In an emotional Meranda, 36 MPs then passed a vote of confidence and adjourned the session indefinitely.
A group of armed, stern-looking security personnel in uniform escorted Obasa into the Assembly Complex’s sacred chambers when he arrived on February 27, 2025. Obasa’s appearance on Thursday was his first time before the Assembly since he was ousted as speaker of Lagos on Monday, January 13, 2025.
Even after his colleagues protested and vowed allegiance to Meranda, Obasa persisted on continuing to serve as speaker of the House.
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