•Mojisola Meranda being sworn-in as Speaker Lagos State House of Assembly
An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Fouad Oki, has warned that the speakership tussle rocking the Lagos State House of Assembly is assuming a dangerously monstrous dimension that will be a mother of all state legislative crisis in Nigeria if not quickly tamed.
“If you see what happened today, you will begin to look at Rivers State, the mayhem that is also consuming Osun State, you look at what is also happening in Kano, you put all of these together, and it will be like a child’s play to (that of) Lagos,” Oki said on Channels Television last night.
Earlier yesterday, armed security officers drawn from the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services stormed the hallowed chamber, preventing the Speaker, Mojisola Meranda, from gaining entrance till hours later. When she finally presided over plenary, she became tearful and emotional as lawmakers passed a vote of confidence in her.
The state legislature has been embroiled in a leadership tussle for weeks following the removal of Mudashiru Obasa as the Speaker of the Assembly and the election of Meranda.
While over 36 pro-Meranda lawmakers in the 40-member Assembly pledged loyalty to the first female speaker, Obasa has insisted that his removal was illegal and has gone to court to challenge the process.
The APC chieftain described yesterday’s hullabaloo at the state assembly as a show of shame and a setback for democracy.
“Today is a sad day for me and indeed for all lovers of democracy in Nigeria,” he said.
Oki said “enough of begging and enough of appeasement”, saying that he and other comrades who were in the trenches during the fight for democracy would defend what they believed in.
“If there are those who do not have a sense of history, those who may either be benefactors of Hon Mudashiru Obasa or supporting him to cause a breach of the peace in Lagos, we will again put our lives on the line to defend democracy,” he said.
