Tag: Lagos Speaker

Womanifesto, a group of over 350 women’s rights organisations, advocates and practitioners, hàs urged Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt Hon. Lasbat Mojisola Meranda to ensure gender equity, fair representation and protection of rights of women.

The group paid a courtesy visit to the Speaker last week.

The delegation was led by Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, Convener of the group.

She congratulated the speaker for her emergence as the first female Speaker in Lagos State, recognizing this as a landmark and historical win for women’s participation in governance.

Akiyode-Afolabi also applauded the members of the House of Assembly for abiding by the constitutional process in the election of the new Speaker. She emphasized the need to strengthen collaborations with other state and non-state actors to contribute to the development of a Lagos where women and girls thrive.

Also speaking, Yemi Adamolekun, Executive Director of Enough is Enough Nigeria and Ini Etuk, Executive Director of She Forum Africa described Womanifesto’s solidarity as apolitical, solely representing the interests of Nigerian women and girls.

They called on all stakeholders to support the Speaker in alliance with the agitation of women across Nigeria for gender equity and representation. Adamolekun charged the House members to focus on working for the good of Lagos in the two years left before the next election cycle.

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The delegation offered Womanifesto’s technical support to the Speaker, towards ensuring her successful tenure in Lagos.

The delegation was received by the Speaker as well as prominent members of the House including the Deputy Chief Whip Hon Sani Ganiu Okanlawon and Hon Ajayi Oladele. Speaking on behalf of the House members, Hon Okanlawon re-emphasized the vote of confidence in Meranda, and noted the need to support the Speaker.

Meranda thanked the group for the solidarity, and the members of the Lagos State House of Assembly for the confidence reposed in her. She highlighted the low representation of women in the legislature, with 4 female and 36 male lawmakers in the House. She promised to work for the good of Lagos and uphold the highest standards of excellence as a representative of Nigerian women.

The Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr Mudashiru Obasa ,has appealed to residents not to participate in the planned  protest against hardship in the interest of peace and progress.

Obasa made tbe appeal  on Wednesday while addressing his constituents at a stakeholders meeting on peace and security in  Agege area of the state.

The Speaker said protest was not needed in the state as the  government was doing its best to meet the needs of the people.

 Obasa urged parents and guardians to  discourage their children, wards neighbours and family members from joining the protest or being part of anything that could breach peace in the state.

“We are enjoying the dividends of democracy in Lagos, especially in  Agege, because Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has been making life better for us.

“There are many development projects ongoing in Lagos. If the government is doing all these, why will any of us want to be combative towards the government?

“The current inflation is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. It has affected other countries. The ongoing conflicts between Ukraine and Russia, as well as the war between  Israel and Palestine, have contributed to inflation.

“The impact of war and insecurity is what we are experiencing now. Both the federal and state governments are doing everything to alleviate these challenges. ” he said.

 Also speaking ,Rep. Wale Ahmed, a member representing Agege Federal Constituency at the House of Representative,  appealed to Agege residents not to participate in the protest.

Ahmed, however ,said those who believe the protest should hold should not let it cross the line of a peaceful protest.

The lawmaker noted that he knew President Tinubu had good intentions for Nigerians and he was working hard  to correct the challenges facing the country.

He said everyone, including those planning to foment trouble in the name of protest ,knew the president was trying his best.

He said the president needed more time to fix the country ,urging residents to be patient with the present administration.

The lawmaker acknowledged that things are tough at the moment, but urged citizens to continue to  keep faith with government to turn things around.

The Chairman, Agege Local Covernment Area, Mr Ganiyu Egunjobi,also cautioned residents against joining the protest.

Egunjobi reminded the gathering of the damage caused during the EndSARS protest and stressed the need to protect the  state’s infrastructure.

He said: “We are here today to sensitise our residents of Agege to the  upcoming protests called by some faceless groups.

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“We will not be part of the protest because our peaceful coexistence in Agege cannot be compromised as we all know what happened during the 2020 EndSARS protest.

“Two police stations were burnt down so we don’t want such incidents to repeat itself in Agege because the people of the council are already enjoying the dividend of democracy.”

Ogunjobi while sympathising with  ordinary Nigerians on the present situation , said hardship was a global issue.

Stakeholders at the meeting ,including  religious leaders ,spoke in turns to advise against joining the protest.

The clerics stressed that President  Tinubu had only been in office for a year and needed more time to address the country’s issues.

(NAN)

The  former speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiiji, says his acquittal from money laundering related charges and prosecution that spanned over 12 years was a harrowing experience.

The speaker said his joy knew no bounds, describing the experience as a “rebirth of sorts”.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the  Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday, cleared the former speaker of 54 charges brought against him by the EFCC.

Justice Mohammed Liman dismissed the charges brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), ruling  that the prosecution did not meet the legal burden of proof required.

Addressing newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos, Ikuforiji said: : “I am a very happy man. It feels so great to be free after 12 and half years of prosecution and persecution.

“It is a long story.  Since 48 hours that I am free,  I am extremely grateful to God. When I got out of the court, I called my wife Mayowa, because  I did not tell her while going to the court that day.

“I was even joking with my friend, when the Judge came, that if I had seen a Black Maria, I will have to run away.

“As a strong believer, I always believed in what Almighty Allah decreed. But there are some things as a man in flesh  that you begin to  ask second questions.

“I was at the House of Assembly for 12 years; 10 years, I was speaker and there was no time the lawmakers fought. The Lagos assembly was the best because of the harmonious relationship.

“But if after 10 years of being speaker and leading a progressive house, making  progressive laws, even the National Assembly came to learn some things from us, we passed the FOI Act before them even the  Child Rights Law. “

Ikuforiji, who served as Lagos speaker from 2005 to 2015, said he was wrongly prosecuted but would not sue the EFCC for that.

“I suffered for 12 and half years  over wrongful allegations, I suffered unnecessarily for that period, what was my offence and what did I do?

“A faceless petitioner wrote to the EFCC that the assembly arm twisted the Lagos state government to pay N500 million to it monthly and  later, I was accused of embezzling  the money, amounting to N7 billion.

“Is that not ridiculous that the members did not do anything that I allegedly made away with N500m for 14 months?

“I got a call from the director of EFCC while going to Umrah, I told him I will honour the invitation when I come back. I called him when I returned and he said I should come, I went there that Friday morning and I spent the weekend on the floor of  EFCC cell.

“They showed me the petition and I faulted it, the person that wrote it,  no telephone number.

They asked for the other members and I told them  that I don’t need to get others because I was in charge.

According to him, I spent the weekend there and was released on bail, EFCC came to the house, combed  the books for three months and saw nothing.

“I suffered the  agony for over 12 and half years.  Many sleepless nights.  I thank my Family, colleagues, friends and the media for standing by me.

“The EFCC started with 200 charges and trimmed it to 54  and no one said embezzlement.

“Today we are grateful to God that at the end of it all, we have been vindicated. The honest thing is that in the Quran, even in the dark,  there is always an element of light.

” I am now a Barrister at Law.  This case was what pushed me toward reading law. I was doing well as speaker, My lawyers came up with other things and I felt it was time for me to be learned.

“That is something good, if this trouble was  not thrown at me, I won’t be a lawyer today. My family suffered a great deal. Members of the house  stood by me. Most of them followed me to court on court day, I am grateful to them.

” Lots of our leaders who were praying with me, I salute them. My wife is a Christian and they have been praying for years. God was really merciful to me and gave me people who supported me.

Read Also: Court clears ex-Lagos speaker Ikuforiji, aide of money laundering

“Today I am a free man, June 24, 2024 remains a second birthday to me because that is the day of my independence, , the day I smelt freedom.

“In 2014, the Federal High Court said I had no case to answer and it went to the Supreme Court and the case was reassigned and here we are today,” Ikuforiji said.

He, however,  said the charges might  have been politically or socially engineered but what mattered the most was that as a politician, stuff like that was expected.

On whether he planned to contest for elective position in 2027, the former speaker said it is God that would determine that.

(NAN)