Tinubu Set To Endorse Obasa For Lagos Speakership Position

The intrigues that characterized the selection of Speaker for the eighth session of the Lagos State House of Assembly got to its peak Tuesday night with majority of the lawmakers endorsing Honourable Mudashiru Obasa.

Obasa who is the representative of Agege Constituency 1 was nominated by majority of the members in the house as their choice for the coveted number three seat in the state.

Naij.com learnt that Obasa finally emerged after a heated debate at the meeting which lasted several hours.

It was learnt that he was foisted on the members of the House who had earlier vowed to stop his ambition as they did not see him as the right candidate for the seat.

But Obasa’s ambition was championed by Hon. Bayo Oshinowo, who is believed to be very close to the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

READ ALSO: Lagos Speakership Race Hots Up
Tinubu, who had focused his attention at the federal level since his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the presidential election, had left the choice of picking the Speaker to the members of the House.

At the meeting Tuesday night, it was learnt that Oshinowo gave the impression that the choice of Obasa was endorsed by Tinubu, who was not physically at the meeting.

Findings revealed that Oshinowo told the lawmakers that Tinubu had asked that the most ranking member of the House should be made the Speaker.

But reliable sources told Naij.com that Oshinowo actually met with Tinubu.

“As a result of Tinubu’s busy schedule, he asked Oshinowo to liaise with the newly sworn-in governor, Akinwunmi Ambode.

“But upon reaching Ambode, the governor simply told Oshinowo that he would support anyone who Oshinowo thought fit for the position. Oshinowo who was already championing the ambition of Obasa told his colleagues that Obasa had been picked for the job,” the source said.
READ ALSO: Lagos Speakership Race: Fear Grips Lawmakers Over Tejuoso’s Chances

Apart from Oshinowo and his role, the outgoing Deputy Speaker of the House, Taiwo Kolawole, never hid his support for Obasa. While Kolawole supported Obasa, the outgoing Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, supported Rotimi Abiru, the only returning principal officer, as his successor.

The interests of the outgoing Speaker and deputy, it was learnt, had to do with their own ambition to become consultants to the House.

SCHEMING OUT LAGOS CENTRAL

With the endorsement of Obasa, pending the approval by Tinubu, the Lagos Central, the zone most qualified to have the seat, has been successfully schemed out.

Obasa is from Lagos West, the same zone that produced the Deputy Governor of the state while the governor is from the Lagos East.

But analysts from the House of Assembly and within the All Progressives Congress (APC) agree that the party leaders in the Central zone shot themselves in the foot as they could not reach a consensus candidate throughout the period the subtle campaign for the position lasted.

It was learnt that at first, the leaders in the Lagos Central zone were divided among the three contenders for the seat.

While some wanted Moshood Oshun, the representative of Mainland Constituency 2 at the House and the most ranking member from the zone, some settled for Gbolahan Yishawu, a first term lawmaker considered by his colleagues as too ambitious. The third set of leaders supported Wasiu Eshilokun-Sanni, a former council chairman, who apart from having his electoral victory still being contested at the Appeal Court, was disqualified by his colleagues as not qualified having only served the House as member between 1999 and 2003 when Nigeria was still carrying out experimental democracy.

The bickering and refusal of the party leaders to finally settle for the right candidate, according to some of the lawmakers, was their undoing.

READ ALSO: Speakership Race: Gbajabiamila Denies Tinubu

“The Lagos Central should blame their absence in the first three positions in the state on the party leaders of the area.

“Out of greed and personal interests, they ended up indirectly throwing the position to the other zones. I think it is a lesson,” a lawmaker from the Lagos East told our correspondent.

CONFUSION

Naij.com learnt that suddenly jolted by their collective error, APC leaders from the Central zone are currently putting a last-minute pressure on Tinubu to reject the choice of Obasa as the Speaker as it would mean that the zone is left out in the political scheme of the state.

The resulting confusion is said to have resulted in a major consideration among members of the party and Tinubu as to whether to go ahead with the inauguration of the eighth Assembly today or not.

However, the  Lagos State House of Assembly have for sometime now been in a serious tussle on whom to emerge the Speaker of the eight assembly of Lagos State.

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