We're not involved in Obasa's removal as speaker - Influential GAC member Olusi

Prince Tajudeen Olusi, chairman of the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) in Lagos State, says the council was not consulted before Mudashiru Obasa was impeached as the Lagos State House of Assembly speaker.

Olusi, speaking with reporters in an interview at his residence on Friday, said that lawmakers neither consulted the party nor the council.

He said that the council should not be dragged into the leadership crisis that saw Obasa removed and replaced by the Deputy Speaker, Mrs Mojisola Meranda.

“Members of the GAC are not members of the Lagos State House of Assembly to allegedly be behind the removal of Obasa. It can’t be true.

“We read it also that morning. The lawmakers carried it out without consulting the party and those of us in the GAC. That is our position.

“We invited all of them and insisted that all of them are products of the party. They lodged their complaints, and we listened to them.

“I blamed them for one thing and that is for not lodging the complaints earlier before the party.

“It is for the party to decide; they (lawmakers) have no absolute power to remove and install their leaders.

“Nobody can become a member of the House of Assembly unless sponsored by a political party, and the sponsors are the inspectors,” Olusi said.

The APC apex leader said that Obasa and his colleagues in the House continued to struggle with the speakership crisis.

“The problem is the speaker (Obasa) and his colleagues, which led to his removal. It is a disputer among them,” he added.

He said no government organ was totally independent of the others, adding that the party, GAC and another high-powered committee were working tirelessly to resolve the dispute.

“Currently, there is a high-powered committee of the party led by Chief Bisi Akande and members, including Aremo Olusegun Osoba, former APC National Vice Chairman, South-west, Chief Pius Akinyelure and others,

“They are working and making efforts to resolve the matter. I know they are in consultation with the House of Assembly, Obasa and the other Speaker, Mrs Mojisola Lasbat Meranda.

“Those of us in the GAC and the Chairman of the Party, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, are doing all within our power to assist the committee,” he added.

Speaking on dissenting views expressed by some members of the GAC, Olusi said that those who spoke expressed their individual views, which they were entitled to, not the GAC’s.

“One day, and very soon, the matter will be settled. Disputes and differences are a fact of life, and dispute resolution and party mechanisms are also present.

“You leave us alone; as a party, we are conscious of our responsibility and that of the House of Assembly; we are going to do all within our powers to resolve the dispute,

“The overall responsibility is on the party,” he added.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the leadership crisis took a new dimension on Thursday when the impeached speaker stormed the Assembly and insisted that he was never removed.

Obasa, who spoke with reporters shortly after arriving at the assembly complex with some security personnel, said he had returned to take charge.

The visit was Obasa’s first appearance at the complex after his colleagues impeached him in January over alleged misconduct and financial impropriety.

The impeached speaker returned on a day when Mrs Mojisola Meranda's security details were withdrawn.