Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly have insisted that the removal of the former Speaker, Mudasiru Obasa, stands adding that they have rejected him in ‘totality.’
The lawmakers spoke at the Assembly premises after Obasa stormed the premises on Thursday morning escorted by the Police and officers of the Department of State Security, DSS.
Earlier in the day, the security details of the Speaker, Mojisola Lasbat Meranda as well as those guiding the assembly premises were withdrawn by the Inspector General of Police. Few hours later, Obasa in company of security operatives stormed the Assembly and forcefully took over the office of the Speaker.
Reaffirming their support for the new Speaker, one of the lawmakers, Stephen Ogundipe, who spoke on behalf of the 18 lawmakers present said their decision on Obasa’s removal stands.
“We are doing our duties despite all the intimidations. This is Lagos and Lagos House of Assembly. We were approached by our leaders that we should remain calm but we were shocked with what happened this morning. We are still expecting them to come and tell us where we went wrong.
We won’t take law into our hands but we all belong to different constituencies and we have our mandates. We are not happy and shocked with what is happening.
We have not done anything against the state or anybody but we want to be respected and given our dignity, to be shown that we were elected. I am appealing to the leadership of our party that we can not continue this way. They have taken us to court and it’s for us to let it take its full course.
What we are seeing today is uncalled for, it’s a charade, it can not stand, it’s an embarrassment. For me to even enter the gate, I was stopped. I was told by the security that I could not enter.
We have said we are not against the leadership’s decision but they should tell us to our face not hearing rumours. We reject Obasa in totality,” he said.
