Lawmakers pass vote of confidence in Obasa

By Oziegbe Okoeki

Lawmakers at the Lagos State House of Assembly at plenary yesterday passed a vote of confidence in Speaker Mudashiru Obasa.

This followed the presentation of a report of a nine-man fact-finding ad hoc committee of the House on allegations of corruption levelled against the Speaker by SaharaReporters.

The committee, headed by Mr. Victor Akande (Ojo Constituency 1),  was mandated to investigate the allegations of corruption levelled against the Speaker, which include operating 64 bank accounts with different banks with different names.

It was also alleged that the Speaker unilaterally approved expenditure for programmes and activities in the House and spent N258million to print invitation cards for the inauguration of the 9th Assembly.

SaharaReporters was said to have alleged that the Speaker received N80 million as estacode and that his wife was collecting N10million from the House on a monthly basis.

There were also reports that the House purchased 11 Hiace buses as well as 80 cars for the lawmakers within a year without following due process.

Read Also: Corruption allegation: Obasa, Deputy Speaker, Clerk appear before panel

The committee, in its report, said that the allegations were frivolous and that the Speaker followed due process in all purchases.

The committee said the allegations against Speaker Obasa were frivolous and unfounded.

It said the Clerk should begin the process of investigating the leakage of some documents of the House to the press and bring the erring officials to book.

It was recommended that the activities of the House should be digitalised for proper record keeping and monitoring.

It was suggested that vote of confidence should be passed in the Speaker.

Mr. Setonji David (Badagry 2) later moved a motion for the adoption of the recommendation of the committee and this was supported by Temitope Adewale (Ifako Ijaiye 2).

The members adopted the recommendations based on a voice vote conducted by Majority Leader Sanni Agunbiade, who acted as the Speaker during the sitting.