- as lawmakers pass vote confidence of confidence
By Olanrewaju Adesanya
Members of the Lagos State House of Assembly stuck to its gun on Monday. They passed a vote of confidence on the Seaker of the Assembly Rt Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, over issues relating to the purchase of vehicles worth N4.2 billion for members of the Assembly.
It also afforded the Speaker an opportunity to comment on the suspension of four of his colleagues sacked by the members last week.
Obasa said there was no going back on the suspension of four lawmakers by the House of Assembly.
The suspended lawmakers include; former Chief Whip, Hon. Rotimi Abiru (Shomolu 2), former Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. Olumuyiwa Jimoh (Apapa 2), Hon. Moshood Oshun (Lagos Mainland 2) and Hon. Raheem Kazeem Adewale (Ibeju-Lekki 2).
The issue of the petition had been brought to the House during plenary on Monday by Hon. Rotimi Olowo (Shomolu Constituency 1) under Matter of Urgent Public Importance.
In a petition, which was said to have been sent to the office of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and addressed to the office of the chairman of the commission with the title:
“PETITION AGAINST LAGOS STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY SPEAKER, MUDHASIRU OBASA ON GROSS FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT, CRIMINAL BREACH OF PUBLIC TRUST AND ABUSE OF OFFICE,” the Executive Director, Comrade Buna Olaitan Isiak, of the petitioner, Human Rights Monitoring Agenda (HURMA) claimed that popular demand necessitated the petition.
“Further to a popular demand by some members of the public to our office, this petition is written to acquaint your agency EFCC, with the gross financial misconduct and the abuse of office being perpetrated by the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Honorable Mudashiru Obasa, for a thorough investigation so as to avert a further bleeding of the public treasury under his care and restore sanity in the functioning of the states legislative establishment.
“The Speakers desecration of his office for which a probe of his activities becomes necessary is in twofold: one, his financial recklessness and cornering of public funds through illegitimate means; and two, the corruption and compromise of laid down procedures and rules deliberately foisted on the workforce of the Assembly,” the petition read.
Hon. Olowo stated that he went through the petition, that it was malicious and that it is against the image of the House.
“It was stated that the House bought vehicles worth N2.4 Billion. Since I joined the House of Assembly, we always got two vehicles before the end of the Assembly.
“In 2007, I got a vehicle and a back up vehicle before the end of the Assembly. The vehicles are always budgeted for and it has been like that right from the time of Rt. Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji.
“We always told the Speaker that the 8th Assembly could not wind up without a back up vehicle.
“The Speaker used to tell to us that the resources were not available and we later got the back-up in April, 2019.
In the 9th Assembly, we just got our official vehicles in November/December, 2019.
“None of the 11 new members got two vehicles. We insisted on Prado Jeep and Mr. Speaker didn’t want to give us, but we insisted on it.
“We are all beneficiaries of the largesse and yet we go about making insinuations and leaking information to the whole world,” he said.
While adding that the write-up and petition was written in bad light, he said that there is no iota of truth in it.
“We also said that the buses that we were using for committee works were bad and we insisted that he should buy a new set and he did.
Hon. Olowo then moved that having appreciated Speaker Obasa to be a democratic, a responsible and a reliable leader, a vote of confidence should be passed on him, and this was supported by majority the lawmakers with the raising up of their hands.
Speaker Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa stated that the issue was not about official vehicles, but the backup vehicles and the money spent purchasing them.
“The official vehicles for the 9th Assembly was the issue. It was a deliberate action to paint the House in bad light. The people that stole the vouchers that were leaked to the press is the issue.
“I thank you for all you have said about the petition. We have discussed issues relating to divulging the discussions in the House.
“I said that the issue that came out in the Guardian Newspaper is traceable to Hon. Moshood Oshun.
“He was asking me for documents of the vehicle given to him, he was the one that called me on the telephone that his vehicle was seized by Customs Officer.
“I once said that someone stole the vouchers of the vehicles. Where did he get it from if not for the role played by a member of the House.
“The writer of the petition is close to Hon. Olumuyiwa Jimoh. Some of the things he wrote were parts of what we have discussed,” he said.
Speaker Obasa then declared that if those who had been disciplined by the House were responsible for what was being spread all over the place, the committee set up on the issue should be dissolved.
“I want to say that there is no crisis in the Lagos State House of Assembly, if there is crisis, we would not have this number of people in the Assembly that we have today.
“We have been sitting and we have been having parliamentary meetings. We must stand by the truth and the truth would set you free. There is no decision we take that we did not discuss in the Assembly. There is nothing hidden about the purchase of the vehicles, you can cross-checks.
“Hon. Rotimi Abiru said that it is a failure on the part of the leadership of the Assembly that they were not given backup cars and houses then,” he said.
This was supported by all lawmakers, who spoke on the matter and agreed that the Speaker was on the right path, adding that they all took the decision over the purchase of the cars together
