Hon. Olumuyiwa Jimoh, a former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly from 2011 to 2023 from Apapa Constituency 2, has weighed in on the recent removal of former Speaker Mudashiru Obasa. Jimoh, who previously served as the Deputy Majority Leader of the Assembly, emphasised that democracy remains the best form of government as it curtails autocratic tendencies and ensures accountability. In this interview with OLADIPUPO AWOJOBI, the lawmaker discussed the reasons behind Obasa’s removal and stressed the importance of collaboration between the legislature and the executive. Excerpts:
How would you describe the relationship between the executive and legislature in Nigeria?
They are working separately for the development of the nation and for the goodp of the common man. However, they are interdependent and they are interrelated as they cannot work in isolation. They have to work on a symbiotic relationship to give birth to what we want.
Some people say that the Lagos State House of Assembly has always been a rubber stamp assembly. We all saw what happened there now, and some people believe that the Speaker was removed due to his disagreement with the governor?
The removal of former Speaker Mudashiru Obasa has nothing to do with what is happening between the executive and the legislature. Obasa was becoming difficult and he had always showed that since the eight assembly from 2015 to 2019. Some of us tried to raise our voices then, but a majority of the members, especially the then the new members, felt that we should leave him that they could get closer to him and get some benefits, before they later discovered who the man was. That was the major issue, not that the executive wanted him to be removed. Was the executive part of the parliament that removed him? No, it was the progressive and conscious members, who felt in their wisdom that they have had enough of him and that his dictatorial tendency was not good for the House, and they decided to send him packing. The executive did not have any business with him.
What are the factors that led to Obasa’s removal?
The removal of Obasa was long overdue, and I am saying this because I was in the 7th, 8th and 9th assemblies. If I were in the university, it’s sufficient for me to be an associate professor. Then, we observed some of his anomalies over time, but some of the people that removed him now didn’t see that because they felt if they got closer to him, they would benefit more than what they were benefitting. Eventually they discovered that it was not so. The due process was followed for his removal. Those who removed him sang Hosanah on four different occasions from June 2023, when they were inaugurated to date through what we call ‘vote of confidence,’ in the legislature. But one vote of confidence is enough to cover four years, and when it becomes too much, then there is a problem. Obasa had been manipulating the members for so long, he instigated the new ones against the ranking members, he gave them committees that they were not entitled to, and he was justifying this by saying that it was not written that some committees were meant for ranking members. Obasa was using divide and rule tactics among the members, and overtime, it affected everybody and they knew his style, so they struck at the appropriate time.
Has he always been what you described or is it because of his long stay in the assembly?
In fairness to Obasa, he graduated to that level. When it was obvious and clear to some of us that he was not leading the House well they did not support us. Those who sustained him then were the ones that removed him now, but we fought him to a standstill. You know it was about the majority, now the majority has become minority and the offensive became the defensive and the defensive became the offensive. When Obasa was leading the house wrongly, we told him, but he did not listen and he was even using the new members against us. But we have been vindicated now. I was a principal officer and he won’t call our meeting before coming out with some policies and I would ask him, ‘when did we come about this decision?’ Hon. Rotimi Abiru, Hon Sanai Agunbiade, Hon Wasiu Sanni-Eshinlokun, now Senator Eshinlokun, and myself told him he couldn’t be running the House like this, but the majority of the members didn’t want us to discuss this because he had succeeded in manipulating the new members. Everybody now knows his style, that shows the importance of democracy that abuse of power has an expiry date and they waited for him. I am sure that with all the evidence the members articulated against him, if he was around he would have signed his own removal. He knew that all these things were wrong, but he was just doing them as if he was the Lord of the Manor and that nobody could question him. He would even threaten members that he would remove them from their committees if they disobeyed him. There is this mentality that one committee is juicer than another and people wanted to have a juicy committee forgetting that it is God that places one in positions. I expect him to apologise for his wrong deeds and also sign his own removal notice.
But during the budget presentation in November 2024, a vote of confidence was passed in the Speaker by the members…
I was in the House of Assembly for 12 years and I have said on many occasions that when a vote of confidence is being passed in you for almost four or five times, it shows there is a problem. Problems are like plants, they have roots. One vote of confidence is sufficient for a speaker. But when you have three, four or five votes of confidence, it shows something is wrong somewhere and that is the problem that exploded at the Lagos State House of Assembly.
In specific terms, what do you think were the major shortcomings of former Speaker Mudashiru Obasa?
Gross misconduct, etc. As the Speaker, he still wanted to be in control of the committees of the House in the sense that whatever gets to the committee should get to him and members revolted and sent him packing
He had no respect for the rule of law, he was manipulating the members, and he instigated new members against the old ones. These were the major things that led to his removal among many others. He had no respect for members of the assembly.
But one would have expected that a committee should have been set up to investigate him, come up with a report; also removal was done in his absence, what’s your view on this?
It’s left for those who are in the House to do that and for anti-graft agencies to get involved in the issues raised so far. I think those who are there know what to do and some of them are experienced.
Some people believe that the former speaker became so powerful after spending many years in office and what do you think should be done to check this kind of thing in the future?
The number of years spent in office does not matter. It is the institutions that we have to protect, guide and empower. President Donald Trump of the United States of America would have got his way the other time when he tried to bully his way into the White House and Capitol Hill, but he couldn’t because they have strong institutions there. We should have strong institutions that can curb any individual tendencies.
One of the allegations against Obasa was delaying the Governor and other senior members of the APC, when they went for the 2025 budget presentation, how will you describe this?
It was not only unethical, it’s equally unthinkable. It’s not just delaying the Governor that was the problem, the diplomatic community and other senior citizens were there. His removal is justified, it was long overdue and it’s good for our development. Anywhere in the world, apart from the constitution, which is the ground norm, the other most important thing is the budget presentation. The presentation of the budget at any given Assembly is taken at the first reading. The appropriation bill is different from other bills. The disbursement to ministries, parastatals and departments would be determined by the appropriation law, which is called economic planning and budget. That was the first reading, committing it to the Committee on Budget and Economic Planning is the second reading. For you to delay the leaders of the party, you whose fate can be determined by 27 members, you delayed the Deputy Governor, the Governor and others and you put on dark glasses, creating an impression that you are the Lord of the Manor. Can a cockerel be innocent in the midst of chickens?
One of the errors Obasa made was that he equated himself with the Governor of the state, the governor requires notification for his impeachment, but 2/3 of the lawmakers can remove a speaker. He also assumed that members in the house are like commissioners or special advisers, the Governor can remove them anytime, but he cannot remove any of the lawmakers. The relationship between the Governor and the commissioner is different from that between the Speaker and the lawmakers. You are first among equal, you are representing your constituency just like others. He destroyed ranking in the House and by January 13, 2025, virtually all the members knew his style and they decided to remove him. Obasa would have spent 10 years in office by June, 2025, like former speaker Ikuforiji, but the latter is still the longest serving speaker of the assembly. The lesson here is that you can only manipulate people for some time; when you are not doing the proper thing, nemesis will still catch up with you. That is why I say democracy is still the best system of government out of about 11 systems of government as it creates room for checks. Obasa did not tolerate criticisms, once you raise a view that is different from his own, you have offended him. He can seize your imprest.
Will you say Nigerian democracy has solved our problems as there are cases of corruption everywhere?
Democracy is still the best system of government. Those who say military government is better are deceiving themselves. I was a student union leader during the military era and I know that the liberty we enjoy now was not there and the press can testify to that, especially those who were involved in our struggle for liberation. If you make a comparison, you will see that we have left Egypt, but we are not yet in Jerusalem.
