There’s heavy security presence around the Lagos State House of Assembly on Monday (today).
This is sequel to the impeachment of erstwhile Speaker, hon Mudashiru Obasa.
Mr. Obasa, 52, was first elected Speaker on June 8, 2015, resuming office alongside former one-term Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. He has since secured two re-elections and was serving his third term as Speaker as of the time of his impeachment.
Repeated allegations of fraud and political thuggery had marked Obasa’s speakership, however.
In October 2020, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC} took Obasa into custody to enable him to respond to allegations of fraud.
The spokesman for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, told The PUNCH that Obasa was invited and had honoured the invitation at the Lagos zonal office of the commission on Thursday, October 8, 2020.
“He was invited, not arrested. He is responding to questions,” Uwujaren said.
Obasa had been facing several allegations of corruption. In 2020, he had appeared before the House panel of enquiry on the corruption allegations levelled against him.
While Obasa denied most of the allegations, he admitted that N80 million as estacode was approved for the training of the wives of 20 lawmakers in Dubai. He also said that the allegations were geared towards getting him out of office.
“We gave N4m to each of the participants for air tickets, hotels, feeding and local travel. Air ticket to Dubai alone cost about N2m. Some of these allegations were raised for a crusade to get the Speaker out of office.
“The House of Assembly is above common standard of excellence and we have to train people, and this comes at a cost. Learning is not cheap and I have never collected N80m for estacode at a go before,” he had told the panel.
The House committee subsequently cleared him, which sparked protests among several anti-corruption groups at the time.
