The embattled ousted speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Mudashiru Obasa on Thursday said he had resumed as the speaker.
He stated this after returning to the assembly complex for the first time since his ouster on January 13.
He was escorted to the legislative house by a combined team of heavily-armed police and the State Security Service (SSS) personnel.
“I’ve resumed, and I remain the Speaker of the Assembly,” Obasa told journalists.
He contended that he never lost his position through impeachment or removal.
“I’ve never been removed. Impeachment or removal is democratic and constitutional but in doing that, you must follow the due process. I am not against that. If I do that, then I am not democratic.”
however, members of the legislature rejected Obasa’s come-back bid, claiming he remained impeached.
They pledged their allegiance to the Mojisola Meranda-led assembly, insisting that she is the speaker.
The chairman for the house committee on information, security and strategy, Mr Steven Ogundipe, told journalist that Obasa’s removal was irreversible.
However, he appealed to the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to intervene in the impasse.
“We were approached by our leaders that we should remain calm and take things easy. But we are surprised to see what is happening here today.
“We won’t take laws into our hands, just as we told the staff not to take laws into our hands. But we all belong to different constituencies, and we have our mandate. Whatever has to happen, the leadership should speak with us and not this charade we are seeing.
“We are not happy; we have been law-abiding. We have not gone out of our way against the state. We also want to be respected and to be given our dignity. To be shown that we are elected. I’m appealing to the leadership of our party that we cannot continue this way,” he said.
