THE former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, is set to return to his seat and then resign as lawmakers reconvene on Monday (today) for an emergency plenary session.
A report by The Eagle Online quoted credible to have said that Meranda was expected to resign as speaker and yield the speakership back to Obasa during the plenary.
The report said that based on the agreement reached by the lawmakers with top chieftains of the All Progressives Congress, Meranda would revert to her former position as the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.
It was gathered that Obasa would also step down after taking over.
But before doing that, he would have adjourned the sitting of the Assembly sine die.
The newspaper reported that increased presence of security operatives, including those of the Nigeria Police, Department of State Services, and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, was noticeable at the Lagos State House of Assembly in Alausa, the seat of the Lagos State Government.
Before the resumption of plenary, the elders who intervened in the crisis would have firmly taken a position on who becomes the next speaker.
Some of those who intervened in the crisis included the Interim National Chairman of the APC and former Governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande; and a former Governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba.
Also said to be involved in the mediation were a former National Legal Adviser of the APC and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Muiz Banire, and the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Pius Akinyelure.
Eight legislators from Lagos West Senatorial District have been pencilled down to replace Obasa and Meranda.
The major concern of the leadership of the APC is that with the emergence of Meranda, both the speaker and the governor of the state would be from Lagos Central Senatorial District.
Obasa is from Lagos West Senatorial District.
The eight ranking lawmakers who are already jostling for the position after the mediation meetings include Setonji David, Badagry Constituency 2; Temitope Adewale, Ifako-Ijaye Constituency 1; Kehinde Joseph, Alimosho Constituency 1; and Adedamola Kasunmu, Ikeja Constituency 2.
Others are Lukman Olumoh, Ajeromi-Ifelodun Constituency 1; Wale Rauf Sulaimon, Mushin Constituency 2; Nureni Akinsanya, Mushin Constituency 1; and Surajudeen Tijani, Ojo Constituency 2.
However, among the eight, Setonji and Sulaimon are said to be more favoured.
This is because Setonji is at present the Chief Whip of the House and has served as a lawmaker since 2015, while Sulaimon has been in the House since 2019.
It would be recalled that the lawmakers in support of Obasa’s replacement, Mojisola Meranda, had last week, adjourned sitting indefinitely.
