Obasa’s Golden Year Springboard For Clinching More Goals

IBRAHIM QUADRI

Upon assumption of democracy in 1999, legislative institution was installed. Coincidentally, at this time, there was a councilor in Agege who also took the mantle of leadership. The legislator is no other person than the current Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa. He became a lawmaker as Nigeria returned to democratic rule.

It is noteworthy to say that having served at the grassroots, Obasa eventually got a seat in 2003 at the State House of Assembly representing Agege constituency I. Since then, he remains a legislator till today. In essence, he has become a legislative icon, without interruption for more than two decades. He is currently the oldest  5th term lawmaker in the Lagos Assembly.

Going by the current political development in the State, Obasa is likely to be re-elected as the Speaker. In the last All Progressives Congress, APC primaries, he won the ticket for the sixth consecutive term.

Going down the memory lane, having served at various committees of the House, Obasa eventually emerged as the Speaker of the State House of Assembly in 2015 through unanimous votes by his colleagues.

In his acceptance speech on June 8, 2015, he said, “It gives me one of the greatest honour and privilege of my life to stand before you as the elected speaker of the 8th Lagos state assembly being the pinnacle of every state parliamentarian.

“Let’s keep Lagos working, this is the most important job of our employers – the people – if we fail from keeping Lagos working, then we would have failed on this job individually and collectively,” Obasa predicted.

Subsequently, in his political journey, Obasa emerged the Chairman Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria in 2018. As a result of the pivotal role of legislative institution and its attendant challenges facing the state Houses of Assembly in the country, Obasa championed the call for independence of state Assemblies.

This struggle eventually paved way as he along with other state Assembly Speakers met with  President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, urging him to issue an executive order on the implementation of full autonomy for state legislatures.

Addressing reporters after the Speakers held a closed-door meeting with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Obasa said the group sought a review of items on the exclusive list to grant more economic power to states.

Obasa argued, although the amended 1999 constitution incorporated independence and financial autonomy for state legislatures, it was not being implemented in many states.

“So, we are urging Mr. President to intervene and speed up the implementation. We urged the president to come in by executive order for this implementation to move faster,” Obasa revealed.

Aside this, one major problem bedevilling the country has to do with insecurity. As a result, there has been agitations for establishment of state poilce to address the issue of insecurity at the grassroots. But this call is yet to be incorporated into the Nigeria’s constitution.

However, to show his foresight as a legislator, Obasa in 2017 sponsored a Bill that eventually led to the establishment of the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Corps (LNSC). At the inauguration of the Corps in Agege Stadium, not less than 7,000 youths were deployed by the State Goverment to complement the Nigeria Police Force on security.

Apart from providing security at the neighborhood, the youths enlisted are gainfully employed. Thus, the idea serves dual purpose of employment and provision of security for Lagos residents.

Obass’s vision of the LNSC became resoundingly manifested as the clamour for south west security outfit became pronounced over the clashes between farmers and herdsmen in the region. The establishment of ‘Amotekun’ was therefore birthed in 2020 in the south west geo-political zone of the country.

However, as other south western states were enacting new laws to give legal backing to Amotekun that was newly formed, Lagos stood out because he had an existing law to cater for the grassroots safey. All that was needed was to amend the LNSC law which was Obasa’s brainchild.

More importantly, ever since Obasa’s emergence as the Lagos Speaker, the State Assembly is known to have experienced stability. Apart from cordial relationship with executive arm especially the present Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the House has enjoyed relative peace. It has demonstrated enviable standards under Obasa’s leadership.

To buttess Obasa’s acceptance by his colleagues, a member of the House representing Eti-Osa II, Hon. Gholahan Yishawu, has denied that he was part of a  plot against Obasa’s re-emergence as the Speaker.

Yishawu who is the Chairman of Budget and Economic Planning said, “I support his re-election in the 2023 general elections and as Speaker in the next 10th Assembly because of his leadership skilll.”

The Speaker marks his golden jubilee on November 11, 2022. Having achieved golden opportunity as a legislator, this year’s birthday serves as a springboard to clinch more goals and golds in Obasa’s legislative career.