Lagos lawmakers reject Obasa, insist Meranda remains speaker

Members of the Lagos state house of assembly have rejected Mudashiru Obasa’s claim that he remains the speaker. 

On Thursday, Obasa, the ousted speaker of the Lagos state assembly, returned to the house accompanied by security operatives.

The development coincided with the recent withdrawal of Meranda’s security aides.

Speaking with journalists at the assembly complex, the lawmakers reaffirmed their support for Meranda’s leadership.

Stephen Ogundipe, member representing Oshodi-Isolo constituency 1, who spoke on behalf of the lawmakers, called on the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos to intervene in the leadership crisis.

“We were approached by our leaders that we should remain calm and take things easy. But we are surprised to see what is happening here today,” he said.

“We won’t take laws into our hands, just as we told the staff not to take laws into their hands. But we all belong to different constituencies and we have our mandate. Whatever has to happen, the leadership should speak with us and not this charade we are seeing.

“We are not happy; we have been law abiding. We have not gone out of our way against the state.

“We also want to be respected, to be given our dignity. To be shown that we are elected. I’m appealing to the leadership of our party that we cannot continue this way.”