- May Raise Petition to EFCC
By Abiola Olawale
The last chapter in the unfolding drama may not yet be written or possibly seen regarding the impeachment of Mudashiru Obasa, the immediate past Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
This is as the Lagos State House of Assembly is reportedly mulling the idea of probing Obasa over alleged financial misappropriation when plenary fully resumes.
Sources hinted that Assembly might also examine the possibility of raising a formal petition against Obasa to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC).
The latest development follows Obasa’s impeachment on January 13, 2025, over allegations of misconduct and financial impropriety.
Meanwhile, the Lagos House of Assembly spokesperson, Olukayode Ogundipe, who spoke with journalists, stated that the Assembly would address these allegations upon the resumption of Obasa physically during plenary.
According to a report by Punch newspaper, the legislator was quoted as saying that a committee might be set up to investigate or the leadership of the House might look into the subject matter further.
He was quoted as saying: “On the other allegations against him when he is on the ground physically, those will be taken care of.
“There are other things we’ve also been hearing about different amounts of money being spent by him. We felt we didn’t know how they got the record of those, but the ones we have, when he’s seated with us, actions will be taken.”
Asked if the Assembly would submit a firmal petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)to probe the ex-Speaker, the Assembly spokesperson, representing Oshodi Constituency I, maintained:
“That will be expatiated when he’s on the ground, probably a committee will be set up to look into it or probably it will also be looked at by the leadership of the House.
“Those formalities, as per procedures, will be followed to the letter. So I’m sure you should expect the House to react to that when the time comes.”
It would be recalled that following his removal, Obasa, who broke his silence last Saturday, declared the whole process leading to his impeachment as illegal.
He claimed that his removal was unprocedural, declaring that he remained the authentic Speaker.
Obasa also dismissed the corruption allegation raised by the lawmakers.He stated: “If you want to claim that I’m corrupt, please prove it, let us see it.”
However, reacting to the comments of Obasa, the House spokesman maintained that Obasa was lawfully removed.
Ogundipe added: “I want to say that the former Speaker, Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa is still one of us and will continue to remain one of us and the process of his removal was constitutional.
“As I said, the constitution is very clear about the process of bringing him in in case we want to change the guard, that is the same procedure we also used to remove him. The process was duly followed, and the members, we know what we saw, and we intended to change guard and that’s exactly what we did.”
