Tinubu backs Obasa to remain Lagos speaker, ends assembly crisis

President Bola Tinubu has resolved the leadership crisis in the Lagos State House of Assembly, endorsing Mudashiru Obasa to continue as Speaker.

The decision came after a closed-door meeting between Tinubu and all 40 lawmakers at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday.

The President’s stance goes against the advice of a panel led by former Osun State Governor Bisi Akande and former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel. The panel, along with the Governance Advisory Council, had initially suggested that Obasa should step down after being reinstated.

Their recommendation was part of a political arrangement that first required Mojisola Meranda to resign as Speaker, allowing Obasa to return. The understanding was that Obasa would then step down shortly after, making way for a new Speaker from Lagos West to balance the state’s political structure.

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Recall that 49 days after his impeachment on March 3, 2025, Obasa was reinstated as Speaker following Meranda’s resignation and her re-election as Deputy Speaker. However, instead of stepping down as expected, he adjourned the Assembly indefinitely and refused to leave office.

Lawmakers had on Wednesday arrived at the Presidential Villa in a Coaster bus around 2 pm before being ushered into the President’s office. While Meranda arrived with her colleagues, Obasa arrived separately at about 3 pm.

A Presidency official, who spoke anonymously, confirmed that Tinubu had urged all lawmakers to work together for the stability of the Assembly and Lagos State.

“Tinubu met the lawmakers behind closed doors. They spoke about their grievances, and the President has resolved the problems,” the source said.

“With this development, Obasa will remain Speaker. His position is no longer threatened, and all lawmakers have agreed to work with him. They even had a photo session with the President after the meeting. It went well.”

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  Despite Tinubu’s intervention, some stakeholders are reportedly unhappy that the original agreement was not followed. The source, however, assured that Tinubu would continue engaging all parties to maintain unity.

“Some stakeholders are naturally displeased that Obasa did not follow through on the agreement with the Akande panel. But I’m sure the President will continue to engage everyone to settle the matter,” the source added.

A source close to Obasa revealed that Tinubu also directed him to withdraw his lawsuit challenging his impeachment at the Lagos State High Court.

“The President told the lawmakers to allow Obasa to work, and Obasa should also withdraw the case against Meranda and the lawmakers in court. The lawmakers have agreed to this,” the source said.

Obasa was impeached on January 13, 2025, by 35 lawmakers, who accused him of high-handedness, financial mismanagement, and authoritarian leadership. Meranda was elected as Speaker but later resigned under pressure from party leaders.

Tinubu backs Obasa to remain Lagos speaker, ends assembly crisis

Obasanjo lambasts Tinubu on high cost of VP new residence, Lagos-Calabar highway

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described as wasteful and corrupt most of the projects being executed by the President Bola Tinubu administration.

Obasanjo lambasted the Tinubu administration for spending N21 billion on a new official mansion for Vice President Kashim Shettima, calling it a misguided priority and a conduit for embezzling public funds.

The ex-leader revealed this in chapter six of his new book, ‘Nigeria: Past and Future,’ in which he depicted the portraits and personalities of federal and state chief executives alike.

The book was one of two new books released to commemorate Obasanjo’s 88th birthday last week.

Obasanjo also condemned the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project.

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, announced that the 700-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will cost N4.93 billion per kilometre, noting that the contract was given on a counterpart-funding basis rather than a public-private partnership.

The pilot phase, which begins at Eko Atlantic and is planned to end at the Lekki Deep Sea Port, has been allocated around N1.06 trillion, or 6% of the total project budget.

Many prominent Nigerians, including Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections, have questioned the Federal Government’s decision to award the contract to Gilbert Chagoury’s Hitech Construction Company without competitive bidding.

Chagoury is thought to be Tinubu’s long-time business partner and friend.

Assessing Tinubu’s two years in government, Obasanjo stated that it appears like the game of short-changing nearly 230 million Nigerians will continue since “everything is said to be transactional and the slogan is ‘It is my turn to chop.’”

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When asked about Obasanjo’s criticism of Tinubu on Wednesday night, presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga declined to comment.

The former President stated that the majority of those who have been appointed to positions of leadership in the country, such as governors, presidents, ministers, commissioners, and even local government chairmen, are ill-prepared, satanic, and self-centred, and are all out to corruptly enrich themselves while the nation continues to suffer from abject poverty and condemnable underdevelopment.

According to Obasanjo, many people who want to be governors or lead the country in some way are simply interested in using their positions to enrich themselves and their cronies and then leaving the country worse off than when they arrived.

The former President stated that most office-seekers in the country would go so far as to borrow billions of naira loans, assuming that repaying them from public monies once elected would not be an issue.

He stated, “How do you explain the situation of a chief executive, a governor, whose business was owing the banks billions of naira and millions of dollars before becoming a governor and within two years of becoming governor, without his company doing any business, he paid all that his businesses owed the banks.

“You are left to guess where the money came from. Having got away with that in the first term, he consigned to himself almost half of the state resources in the second term. He was a typical example of the goings-on at that level almost universally in the country with only a few exceptions.

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“State resources are captured and appropriated to themselves with a pittance to staff and associates to close the mouths of those that could blow the whistle or raise alarm against them while in office and when they are out of office.’’

He further noted that “The ones that are criminally ridiculous are the chief executives that deceive, lie and try to cover up on the realities and truth of action and inaction on contract awards, agreements, treaties, borrowings and forward sales of national assets. Such chief executives are unfit for the job they find themselves in.

“Typical examples of waste, corruption and misplaced priority are the murky Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road on which the President had turned deaf ears to protests and the new Vice-President’s official residence built at a cost of N21bn in the time of economic hardship to showcase the administration hitting the ground running and to show the importance of the office of the Vice-President. What small minds!”

To address some of the difficulties facing the country, the former President noted that there is a need to investigate the Western liberal democracy being practised and see how it could be modified to reflect African uniqueness.

“If the West, from where the liberal democracy started should complain about it not working well for them, we should be wise enough at this stage to interrogate, carry out introspection, internal analysis and realise that Western liberal democracy is not working for us and is not delivering apart from the shortcomings of the operators.

“We should seek democracy within African history, culture, attributes and characteristics, one that will take necessary African factors into consideration. Until we can get a better word or description for it, let us call it Afrodemocracy.

“It is from Afrodemocracy that we will draw up an African people’s constitution for any African that chooses to go the way of Afrodemocracy, which will avoid most, to all, the faults we have found in Western liberal democracy,” he suggested.

Obasanjo lambasts Tinubu on high cost of VP new residence, Lagos-Calabar highway

‘Akpabio can’t be forced to honour IPU invitation over Natasha’s accusations’

Senate President Godswill Akpabio’s camp has disputed the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s power to compel him to testify before its panel over Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s suspension from the National Assembly.

Akpabio’s media aide, Eseme Eyiboh, confirmed this in an exclusive interview with The PUNCH on Wednesday.

Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is on a six-month ban, accused Akpabio of sexual harassment and misuse of power.

On Tuesday, she appeared before the IPU, a United Nations organisation, to file a complaint against the Nigerian Senate and its president, Akpabio.

After hearing her case, the IPU stated that it needed to hear from Akpabio before taking a position on the issue.

“The IPU, through its President Tulia Ackson, assured that it would take necessary steps after hearing both sides of the issue. Ackson acknowledged Akpoti-Uduaghan’s concerns but stressed the need for procedural fairness by hearing Akpabio’s side as well,” a Wednesday statement by the agency read.

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However, speaking in an interview with on Wednesday, Akpabio’s aide, Eyiboh, insisted that the Senate President was under no obligation to honour any invitation from the IPU, arguing that the matter was an internal parliamentary issue.

“They don’t have the authority to do that. It is an internal affair of the National Assembly. Akpabio can’t be forced to honour an IPU invitation. That is one. Secondly, what she is doing is contemptuous since she was said to have obtained a court order,” he said.

“That means she has no regard for the rule of law. And beyond being contemptuous, what she is trying to do is to dent the image of Nigeria, which is worrisome. Again, the IPU cannot meddle into the parliament and internal affairs of a sovereign state like Nigeria. It will be very embarrassing.

“But as I said, she has taken a step to show contempt for the court she went to. Has anybody asked her why she left the court to start heading to the IPU? Anyway, we wouldn’t want to comment too much on that issue because it is sub judice.”

Speaking on if Akpoti-Uduaghan would face further sanctions for her actions, Eyiboh declined to speculate.

“I cannot predict that,” he said.

Akpoti-Uduaghan, who represents Kogi Central, was suspended on March 6 after an altercation with the Senate President over a new seating arrangement that she believed was intended to undermine her.

During an interview on national television, she accused Akpabio of politically victimising her for refusing his alleged sexual advances.

Akpoti-Uduaghan spoke at the Women in Parliament session of the IPU summit at the United Nations in New York, calling for international intervention to keep the Nigerian Senate accountable.

She also criticised the removal of her security, salary reduction, and a six-month suspension from the National Assembly.

‘Akpabio can’t be forced to honour IPU invitation over Natasha’s accusations’