APC chieftain justifies Obasa’s impeachment

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Fouad Oki, has justified the impeachment of former Lagos Speaker Mudashiru Obasa, saying he was beginning to see himself as an emperor.

Oki disclosed this on Monday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.

Obasa, a sixth-term APC lawmaker representing Agege Constituency I, was removed by members of the Lagos State House of Assembly over multiple allegations of fraud during a plenary session on Monday.

The Clerk of the House, Mr Olalekan Onafeko, was also suspended indefinitely, while the Chief Whip, Mr Mojeed Fatai, was elected the new Deputy Speaker.

Reacting, Oki, who did not betray emotion over the Speaker’s removal, said any discerning mind who also understands Lagos politics would have seen the impeachment coming.

The former chairman of the Lagos State Football Association added that events of the last three months had also suggested that Obasa’s days were numbered.

“He saw himself as an emperor. It became very obvious that there was a need for a change in the leadership of the parliament in Lagos. If you cast your mind back, you must have seen this coming in the last 18 months.

“Recall the events on the day when the governor presented the 2025 appropriation bill and the leadership of the party was invited to the convention.

“Not only was the governor kept waiting for over four hours, but the leadership of the party and all invited dignitaries were also kept waiting with no apologies or excuses. And when he came into the chambers, courtesies, too, were not extended to anyone.

“Rather, it was a situation or an event of letting people know that I am the emperor here. One of the ways to check such an irresponsible attitude is by calling his excesses to order,” he stated.

When asked about the role of President Bola Tinubu in the impeachment, Oki reiterated that the decision was the right thing to do.

He also stressed the impeachment was done in Tinubu’s best interest to see that Lagos continued to remain pivotal in terms of his political leadership.

He said, “Before the president came home, this issue has been lingering. In the wisdom of members of the Governors Advisory Council, GAC, the president’s attention was called.

“The president, as father and leader, called a meeting wherein he tried to make a sense out of the observations raised by elders of the party. Unfortunately, the president saw by himself a recalcitrant. I think that is what broke the camel’s back.”