As part of last-minute efforts to resolve the crisis rocking the Lagos State House of Assembly, President Bola Tinubu has drafted bigwigs in the All Progressives Congress to wade into the matter.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, former governors of Osun, Ogun and Lagos, namely Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Olusegun Osoba and Akinwunmi Ambode, respectively, were at the Governor’s Lodge in Marina, Lagos, for a marathon meeting on Sunday.
All members of the Lagos Governance Advisory Council, the present Lagos chairman of the APC, Cornelius Ojelabi, and the former state chairman of the party, Tunde Balogun, were also at the meeting.
After the meeting, the party chieftains are expected to call all the Lagos lawmakers for another round of meeting.
A source privy to the development said that the meeting was aimed at resolving the speakership tussle between ousted Speaker Mudashiru Obasa and current Speaker Mojisola Meranda.
The source disclosed that while some lawmakers want Obasa to return as Speaker of the House, a faction does not want his return.
“The meeting is currently holding as we speak. The party chieftains will call the lawmakers for another round of meeting. It is all in a bid to resolve the crisis.
“Obasa wants to return as Speaker of the House to spend a little time before he finally resigns by himself. However, some lawmakers believe that once he returns to the seat, it will be hard to get him to leave the position.
“So President Tinubu was fed up with the prolonged crisis and he drafted the party bigwigs to Lagos to find a way out,” the source said.
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The development comes following the inability of the GAC members to resolve the crisis which began on January 13 2025 when about 36 lawmakers removed Obasa as Speaker and replaced him with Meranda, who was then a Deputy Speaker.
Obasa, who has since faulted his removal, dragged the Assembly and the new Speaker, Meranda, before a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, claiming that the lawmakers were wrong to have removed him when the Assembly was in recess.
Meranda may step down for Setonji
The intervention of the party’s heavyweight’s intervention may see Meranda stepping down to allow Setonji David from Badagry to assume the position.
A Presidency source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, “Well, it is true. There have been consultations, and it appears that she will step down.”
Another source who asked not to be named, said that President Tinubu advised party leaders to reach an amicable solution that balances representation.
The recommendation was to ensure fair representation, as Lagos West currently lacks a principal position in the state’s leadership.
“The President believes Lagos West should not be sidelined, and he is in support of a solution that accommodates all interests,” the source said.
Another source in the Assembly said there was pressure on Meranda to resign.
The source said the lawmakers had been holding meetings over the matter.
The source said, “There has been pressure on Meranda to resign. She was meant to read out her resignation last week at the House, but the lawmakers did not agree with her. So there have been meetings over this.
“The letter that was circulating last week suggesting she had resigned was the one she was meant to read out. She is being pressured from Abuja to resign.”
Last week, Meranda’s aide, Segun Ajiboye, denied that his principal was resigning, following circulating reports.
Court sacks pro-Meranda clerk
In another development, the National Industrial Court sitting in Lagos has sacked the acting Clerk of the House, Ottun Babatunde, who was appointed by Meranda.
The court ordered the reinstatement of the former clerk of the House, Olalekan Onafeko.
The order follows an ex parte application to the court made by Onafeko through his counsel, Yusuf Nurudeen, in a case he filed against the Lagos State Government, Lagos State Civil Service Commission, Lagos State House of Assembly Service Commission, the Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Attorney-General of Lagos State and Babatunde.
Onafeko was the Clerk of the House before January 13 when Obasa was removed as Speaker.
The claimant in the suit marked: NICN/LA/23/2025 sought an interim injunction restraining the six defendants from parading any individual including Babatunde as the clerk pending the hearing of the motion on notice for Interlocutory injunction already filed in the suit. Granting the application, Justice M. N. Esowe in an ex parte order directed that Babatunde should cease to parade himself as Clerk.
