Obasa: A Cat with Nine Lives Marks a Decade at the Helm

In Lagos, where politics rarely allows for long leases, Speaker Mudashiru Obasa has done the improbable: he’s survived ten years as the iron-willed conductor of Nigeria’s most influential legislative chamber.

That’s no metaphor. Just this January, Obasa was ousted in what lawmakers called a clean sweep. A new speaker was sworn in. Gavel passed. Then the courts struck—and so did Obasa. By March, he was back in his seat, with a legal ruling, N500,000 in damages, and a political swagger that borders on feline.

First elected in 2003 at 31, Obasa has transformed from an eager legislator to the state’s longest-serving Speaker, presiding over a house that’s passed laws fueling Lagos’ economic ascent: from safety corps to pandemic response and even mental health reform. His Agege base, once a chaotic sprawl, now bears signs of his infrastructural ambition. As the state’s GDP balloons north of $250 billion, few dispute that the legislature has kept pace, sometimes even led.

But Obasa’s legacy is a curious cocktail: one part lawmaker, one part survivor. His court-affirmed return earlier this year was no accident. The impeachment lacked legal spine. The signatures were off. The rules were bent. And when the judiciary stepped in, they did so with clarity: the process was unconstitutional, the ousting void, the comeback valid.

He is not without flaws, nor critics. Allegations of impropriety linger, and his assertive leadership style has drawn heat. Still, across six terms and one abrupt interregnum, he has remained a constant: defiant, strategic, and always within striking distance of the centre.

In a political terrain often shaped by loyalty and betrayal, Obasa has become something else entirely: durable. Neither scandals nor schemers nor short-term mutinies have managed to stick. Ten years in, he is still writing the rules and rewriting the script of what longevity looks like in Nigerian politics.

For now, the gavel rests in his hand. Again.