September 03, (THEWILL) – It is no longer news that in an unprecedented move, the Lagos State House of Assembly deviated from its usual path of clearing all commissioner nominees transmitted by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. 17 out of the 39 names forwarded, were vehemently rejected by the state house of assembly who did not clear them. Only 22 scaled through the screening process. The nominees may well be the victims in an ongoing war between Sanwo-Olu and the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa. Trouble began when Sanwo-Olu felt that Obasa should not be re-elected Speaker of the House and wanted his own candidate, a certain Tobun Mustainu Abiodun, a representative of Epe 1 constituency in the House, to become the Speaker.
Like Mudashiru, who has been in the House since 2007, there is nothing overly spectacular about Abiodun who has been in the House since 2011.
A Higher National Diploma holder in Agric Economics and Extension Management from the Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu, Abiodun’s only known occupation is just being a legislator. He has only ever been given a higher responsibility once, when he was made the Chairman, House Committee on Environment between 2011-2015.
Sanwo-Olu’s decision to replace Obasa with Abiodun is predicated on the fact that he may have felt that he had come of age politically, gathered enough political muscles to be his own man. He may have been right to think so as he sought the help of members of the Governance Advisory Council in the state, GAC, to support him in implementing his decision.
Having convinced them beyond reasonable doubt that Obasa should not be reelected Speaker, these members in turn reached out to President Bola Tinubu on his behalf to convince him on why Obasa should not be re-elected Speaker. Instead, Tinubu advised them to be careful in aligning with Sanwo-Olu’s choice to avoid a repetition of Akinwunmi Ambode’s supposed high-handedness during his one term as governor of the state, which eventually cost him a second term.
Tinubu said that Sanwo-Olu had no reason to remain subservient to any authority if he chooses not to, as he is not seeking the support of relevant bodies for a second term ticket which he already won in the keenly contested general election earlier in the year.
He told them to see beyond the present to prevent a sore (Sanwo-Olu’s itch to be free from some apron strings) from festering. He therefore compelled them to ensure that Obasa is re-elected in order to keep a strong leash on the governor.
Naturally, Obasa had earlier gotten a whiff of Sanwo-Olu’s plans to replace him with Abiodun, but providence smiled on him when he was eventually re-elected. And to take his own pound of flesh, Sanwo-Olu’s 17 rejected commissioner-nominees became the fall guys. But all hope may not be totally lost for some of the nominees as GAC has now been tasked to ensure that the business of governance is not stalled due to the bad blood between the duo by reconciling them, at least to a reasonable extent and having them meet themselves in the middle as it concerns the nominee list.
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