Obasa: You have embarrassed Nigeria, Bode George slams Tinubu over support for reinstated Speaker
Ayodele Olalere
The former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Bode George, has slammed President Bola Tinubu for supporting the return of Mudasiru Obasa as Speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly.
Obasa was impeached on January 13 by 36 out of the 40 lawmakers over alleged N40billon corruption and high handedness. He was replaced by the Deputy Speaker, Mojisola Lasbat Meranda.
However, in a twist of turn after 49 days of his removal, he was reinstated after the security details of the new Speaker were withdrawn by the police allegedly on the order from the presidency paving the way for Obasa to invade the Assembly accompanied by armed men and broke into the chamber with four of the lawmakers loyal to him.
The invasion coupled with pressure on the 36 lawmakers from the presidency and party leaders led to the resignation of Meranda as Speaker and Obasa’s reinstatement.
Obasa’s action has drawn condemnation from Nigerians who blame the President for supporting ‘illegality’ describing it as a dent on democracy.
While reacting to the Assembly crisis as well as other crisis rocking different states, Bode George, in an open letter to the President entitled “From Osun to Lagos and Rivers: Darkness Looms”, expressed shock at the return of Obasa as Speaker and the role President Tinubu played in the crisis.
“Look at what is happening in the Lagos State House of Assembly. It is absolute lunacy. 36 out of 40 members impeached Mudashiru Obasa and since then, we have witnessed this embarrassing show of shame,” Bode George wrote.
He added: “To say the return of Obasa as Speaker on Monday is shocking is an understatement. It is an international embarrassment and the joke is on the presidency..
“Obasa was impeached on January 13 and since then, agents of darkness turned the Assembly to a theatre of war. What sort of democracy is this? Lawmakers have the powers to choose their leaders but since they took that decision, it has been one crisis after the other, fuelled by extraneous forces. Why should Nigeria and Nigerians be embarrassed like this globally? What is our offence?
“Why should this embarrassing and disgraceful behaviour be allowed by the powers that be in Abuja? Why should the Centre of Excellence be turned into the Centre of Confusion?
The PDP leader also spoke on the crisis rocking the local government in Osun, blaming the federal government for fueling the crisis
He berated the President for turning Nigeria into an embarrassment in the comity of nations.
“We now have a situation in which some people interpret the law to suit their selfish interests. What happened in Osun is a straightforward case but government officials at the federal level complicated the situation with unnecessary interpretation of the law.”
He noted that laws are being misinterpreted by the federal government to suit it’s purpose and described it as a danger to our democracy.
He urged the federal government to show goodness in its activities saying such will pay off for the benefit of the country.
