Lagos Lawmakers have debunked the purported presidential order to reinstate Obasa.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that the members of the Lagos State House of Assembly, have denied knowledge of any directive from President Bola Tinubu to reinstate former Speaker Mudashiru Obasa, saying the former leader of the assembly must be daydreaming.
The denial followed a report by an online news medium, which claimed that President Tinubu had ordered members of the Lagos Assembly to allow Obasa to return as speaker.
The medium claimed the lawmakers should be prepared to return Obasa because the political price for his removal could potentially outweigh the benefits of punishing his excesses, which it stated, bordered largely on corruption and abuse of office.
ALSO: Sunday Dare Blasts El-Rufai, Amaechi For Opposing Tinubu
“The president has sent instruction that we should start preparing to let him come back,” a senior Lagos politician, who participated in a series of meetings last weekend, said, adding: “The president said Obasa will spend only a short time before resigning on his terms.
“We have agreed to let him come back to give him a soft landing that he told us he deserved because of the serious political consequences of allowing this matter to endure.”
However, some lawmakers said his return would be difficult for those who participated in his impeachment, especially those who circulated copies of The Gazette’s story that preceded it.
“We’re afraid that bringing him back will be like trying to pacify a snake after its head was severed,” a source said, adding: “Its venom will be super deadly.”
Hon Stephen Ogundipe, who represented the assembly, stated in a WhatsApp message, that, “I don’t understand. I’m not aware.”
He said the report showed the level of desperation by the former Speaker, stressing that Obasa has not been suspended, except when he returns to the assembly, he will be like any other member.”
Another source told THISDAY yesterday that the same way Obasa had abused the name and relationship with President Tinubu to perpetrate many things, is the way he is using the name of the president to project his return as speaker.
“The report is not only false but a story planted and circulated by Obasa and his camp to disrupt the peace of the assembly and the state. It has nothing to do with the president. If anything, the president had told him clearly he’s done enough after almost a decade as speaker.
“Besides, and most importantly, the president understand that such an order, no matter how angry he is over Obasa’s removal, would greatly harm his democratic credentials and he would not want to travel that route,” the source told THISDAY.
