By Segun James
As the crisis in the Lagos State House of Assembly (LSHA) continues to rage, the Coalition of Civil Society Groups (CCSG) and the Lagos People’s Assembly (LPA) have kicked against the suspension of the Chief Whip of LSHA, Mr. Rotimi Abiru and the Deputy Majority Leader of LSHA, Mr. Olumuyiwa Jimoh, adding that the crisis is drawing the state back.
The groups stated at a press conference that was addressed by Mr. Shina Luremekun and Mr. Femi Lawson stressed that as “Lagosians and stakeholders in the democratic process, we are curious about the desperate manner in which the Speaker of LSHA, Mr. Mudashiru Obasa, arrived at this decision and the general manner, in which he has continued to conduct the businesses of the House.
“We wish to say categorically, that not only is the conduct of Obasa and his cronies despicable, it is also an exhibition of lawlessness, as it violates clearly, the position of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.”
They demanded an immediate recall of the suspended members and sacked principal officers, while calling on Lagosians and the leadership of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, to rise and “check the excesses of Obasa and his cronies.”
They insisted that the leadership of the LSHA should have set up a committee to look into the matter before it removed the principal officers or suspended some members.
The groups also demanded for “an independent panel to probe the allegations and all issues, including monumental financial mismanagement and corruption which has become the hallmark of the Obasa leadership.”
They also described the attack by the speaker on opposing voices as vicious and undemocratic with the aim of destroying the tenets of democracy.
“The state of affairs in the LSHA is unacceptable and it is high time Lagosians rose to call Obasa to order,” they insisted, adding that the “un-abating clampdown on members by the speaker will keep pushing the assembly into needless and avoidable crisis.”
