THERE has never been a request from Mr. Governor that this House has ever denied, that being said, it is necessary to harp on the fact that under democracy, this arm of government remains independent and this House recognises this and will always be so. Even though we work hand-in-hand with other arms of government, it is also important to state this House is a sanctuary and a temple and just like temples everywhere, nobody will violate the temple and expect god to accept his or her sacrifice and if such happens, there must be an appeasement to the gods to accept the atonement. No amount of intimidation or coercion will disintegrate or change the belief of all members of this institution. We will never be disgraced, abused or ridiculed in the name of creating a seamless working ambience. Let me also emphasise that those who live in glass house must not throw stones as the saying goes. This also brings to my mind, according to our people eni ba yara logun ngbe, meaning the god of iron recognises the swift ones. In other words, those who are planning to facilitate or interfere in the House or destroy the cohesion of the institution should also be prepared to face the same fate. I have personally been mobilising people on the platform of Mandate which has been misconstrued by some political detractors as selfish aspirations for me to become the governor of the state. There is need however to correct the wrong impression. My concern is building our party and whatever we do is mainly for this cause. To the blackmailers who have to embark on the mission to distort and redefine our mission, let me state it unequivocally here, our intention is to promote our party on the platform of Mandate {while} becoming governor is secondary. It is something I have not given serious consideration. Nevertheless that does not mean I am too young or lack experience to run, whereas those who have been before me are not better off. In addition, it is also important to correct the impression from naysayers that I made payment to seek for blood relations in Ojo to validate my candidacy to run as governor. Of course I have never denied the fact that I am Obasa but rather I have never claimed to be related to Onikoyi, Oniru or any popular Lagos family as the case may be. I can indeed never run from the fact that I am related to my Obasa family in Ojo, but I do not need local validity to contest or run. If eventually I am contesting, I will do so from Agege”.
That was Mudashiru Obasa, the disgraced Ogun State-born, decade-long Speaker of Lagos House of Assembly whose blinding political floodlight was sensationally dimmed last Monday.
Anyone who could speak publicly, the way he chose above, must have either of two things going for him: power or authority, the latter being a delegated power. Obasa gave the speech while the entirety of Lagos ruling establishment since 1999 was in attendance, though minus the apex leader who determines everyone’s fate. But the leader’s long-standing allies, who gatekeep the Lagos turf on his behalf and in his absence, were there in the entourage of Governor Babajide Sanwoolu to present the 2025 budget at Obasa’s lair. Since these men who operate a shadowy power mafia known as Governor’s Advisory Council {GAC}, which the Field Marshal himself gave life and relevance, were in attendance, the Agege “king” seemed to have settled for what was obviously a tour de force with the soap box rant, which insiders in the Lagos power clique are now pointing as the Nunc dimittis from his stratospheric political climb; the ascending that began when he became the most effective weapon in the hands of the apex leader, in derailing Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration and re-election, after the dam broke between the godfather and the rejected godson.
Before he delivered the rant which according to TVC, owned by the Lagos ultimate leader, took 8 minutes 40 seconds of the entire speech that barely topped 11 minutes, Fouad Oki, another muscle-flexing chieftain in the Lagos power corridor, claimed on Channels TV that Obasa kept Sanwoolu and his entourage waiting for four hours, only to show up without an apology to his invited visitors, before taking his seat, to deliver what has now turned out to be his final gavel-banging moment, at least for now.
In the handshaking photo-ops with the governor as captured by TVC before he began his speech, there was no question who was the man-of-the-moment between the supposed number one and the former number three. Obasa was exuding all the confidence of a top-dog. The governor’s agbada was tucked underneath his armpits like a rain-soaked dog with a recoiling tail. Of course, he had been reduced again by Obasa in the full glare of his party leaders and even the cabinet he is supposed to be leading. His visage had despondence written all over it, looking confused, tamed and withdrawn. Alternatively, Obasa was buoyant. His trademark gobi {native name for Yoruba traditional cap} was cocky on him. Though his dark shades gave some Steve Wonder vibe, his dominant position was unmistaken.
Until God showed up in the Obasa battle for the governor, he had become what among football faithful is known as iyawo {wife or the one that can be easily tamed} to the former third-in-command. If a team consistently defeats another, the latter is iyawo to the former. The former is believed to know the lock that opens the defence, goal post and net of the latter, to basketful of goals that could come with some cheekiness, like the one from Obasa.
Nobody in Lagos ruling clique has any power so to say. It is clear as daylight, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the only power in Lagos ruling establishment for now. What he doesn’t want becomes an automatic reject, even for those who have treasured the fellow or the idea until that moment.
Psalm 115:16 says; “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men.” No amount of resentment would change the obvious that Tinubu is either one of such children of men God has given the earth to, or maybe he has taken it by force and still running with it, going by his definition of gaining electoral ascendancy in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election. Yes, his near-invisibility was almost shattered in the election that produced him as he lost Lagos to Igbo-born Peter Obi and his hold on the governorship seat of the most-viable state in Nigeria would have become history if all elections were conducted same day, but somehow, he regained the paradise he almost lost and if God preserves his life, he will still anoint his party’s candidate for Sanwoolu’s successor. Whether he will triumph again in 2027 in the state is another issue entirely.
Since Tinubu is the manifest sole power in the state ruling clique, Obasa definitely derived his immense authority from him and nothing illustrates this better than the Ogun indigene winning a third term unopposed June last year, despite all the o to ge {enough is enough} aluta by Lagos indigenes led by General Tajudeen Olanrewaju. On the day the House was inaugurated, not even the second lawmaker from Epe, tipped to nominate the “indigenous candidate” for Speaker, Hon. Abiodun Tobun, had the temerity. Tinubu’s backing, despite the barking of some party elders and the discomfort of Mr. Governor, was all Obasa needed to coast.
Two issues have been circulated as responsible for Tinubu finally turning his back on his golden “boy” who was already seeing himself as a “crown prince”. One, the governorship ticket. With Seyi the president’s son said to be eyeing the Saraki Kwara scenario when Oloye without being president made Bukola his son governor and almost got the sister to succeed him, other aspirants were expected to defer to the president and hold their subtle campaigns until he decides. Obasa was reportedly pencilled in for the senate and not Alausa. Only time will tell what happens to him next. Then the part of the speech talking about the pedigree and quality of past governors not better than his. Those who had been looking for how to hang him kept trumpeting the line as an affront to the president who was governor between 1999 and 2007.
My uncle, a federal lawmaker and an Asiwaju loyalist, holds this affront view. Well, the issue of pedigree and aptness for office can be subjective. Achebe says until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. Looking critically, the Bola Tinubu of 1999 might even be a little less than an Obasa of 2025 considering the baggage he brought from the US into Alausa government house, though there are also serious doubts now about Obasa’s claim to Bar membership. But there are things you can’t say to a benefactor, though Jesus in Matthew 12:34 says, “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”.
Maybe Leader wasn’t the target of Obasa’s broadside, but he got cut down in his political “prime” and only time will tell if he would resurrect or become a relic of history.
The lessons in Obasa’s fall are too numerous for those made by grace like him, because he wasn’t the only good “boy” in Tinubu’s books in the House since nearly all of them got there by his “grace”, but the one that stands out for me, is not kicking someone who is already down. Before the latest episode that eventually consumed him, Obasa already had a brace over Sanwoolu, obviously using Tinubu’s boots; first. when he reproached the governor to his face during previous budget presentation before rejecting almost a third of his commissioner-nominees ignominiously.
He was aiming for a very humiliating hattrick, before God obviously stepped in and what would pass as just a moment of a little foible became his takedown and takeout. An uncle of mine wondered if he was under a spell {Yoruba will say efun n bedi} after watching the video of the now-ex-speaker, puffing and huffing, in his bid to hone in a supposed victory lap that eventually turned tragic.
James 4:6 says “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble”. I believe God just fought for the governor. The victor should also learn from the Mudashiru thud. Nothing lasts forever. Not even a political empire.
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