You showed up at the Lagos State House of Assembly earlier today and forced your way into the speaker’s office.http://speaker’s office.
Forced! I am surprised at how you arrived at the word. Is it possible to force yourself into an institution of so many people and security personnel? How do you achieve that? Is it possible?
So how did you get into the office, after members of the Assembly removed you and Honourable Mojisola Meranda emerged as Speaker?
I have always said that I have never been removed from office, and I am not against removal. But, if you are going to do that, you must follow the rules of the House. It is constitutional to impeach or remove anyone. But since we practice constitutional democracy, you have to follow the dictation of the constitution. You cannot just wake up one day and say, we are removing the governor without following the steps as stated by the constitution. The same thing applies to the office of the Speaker, who is the presiding officer of the House of Assembly. Nobody is saying no to removal, but you must do it in the right way, according to our rules in the South-West, not just Lagos State House of Assembly rules. In the South-West, the Houses of Assembly all adopted the same rules. So what is applicable in Lagos is the same in Ogun, Osun, Ekiti and others. If we are lawmakers, how can we disregard the laws we made by ourselves? The first thing we did was recess. A motion was moved by the Majority Leader to adjourn to the 18th of February, and well seconded. So, I went on an official trip to the Congress in the United States. The second trip was to be in Canada for a programme organised for some members of the House. So, we adjourned properly. When you are going to reconvene, it has to go through the Majority Leader, the Clerk and the Speaker. According to the rules of the House, it is only the Speaker that can reconvene. So, if you have not done that, it does not matter the forgery you are trying to perpetrate, it is about what we have on the ground.
The office of the Speaker is a privilege. You are first among equals. You need someone to preside over the affairs of the House but the majority of the members say they do not want you.
I am not against the majority saying they want my removal. When I was brought in as Speaker, the whole House supported me. When I came in as Speaker in June 2023, the whole House supported my nomination and I became the Speaker. So, there is nothing wrong if the whole House says otherwise. But they followed a process to elect me to become the Speaker. So, if they want to do otherwise, let them follow the same process. How can you break into an office, break into the mace house and do something overnight? You brought police into the House of Assembly; you blocked my house in the Government Reserved Area with a Rapid Response Squad vehicle; my house in Agege was invaded by police.
But this case has gone to court. Are you challenging your removal in court?
We have a case in court; it has nothing to do with removal. We will have to consult the lawyers to find out what the case is about.
Do you have a feeling that your removal by colleagues has a political undertone? Who do you think is behind your removal?
I don’t want to read the political meaning of this. I will always respect my colleagues; they have been wonderful; they have been supportive; very dedicated; very loyal. We have been together for many years. I have been Speaker since 2015 and I couldn’t have done everything alone without their support. So, when something goes wrong, or there is a misunderstanding somewhere, the most important thing is to come together and resolve it; so I will continue to respect them, including Mojisola Meranda. They have been my people all the way. I have nothing against them. I don’t have the intention of harassing or victimising anybody.
Why does it look like some favouritism because today, security aides of Honourable Meranda were withdrawn and yours reinstated?
When my security aides were removed, without my knowledge, without my consent, when I was not around, did I complain? I did not complain. There was a meeting that took place in Marina, where all the party leaders and the members were in attendance. Meranda openly made a statement that ‘She has stepped down; She has resigned.’ So, when you resign from an office, the whole paraphernalia of the office will be taken away.
Have you resigned too?
Let them bring the letter. If I have resigned, will I be here? I am sure you won’t talk to me as Speaker.
Members of the Governor’s Advisory Council agreed that to resolve this matter, some other lawmakers should be nominated as Speaker and you and Meranda should step aside for another leadership. Did you agree to that deal?
If I had agreed, I wouldn’t be here today. If names have been submitted, they won’t be submitted to me, so I won’t have the privilege of seeing them.
You have been accused of high-handedness and fraud. Are you able to defend yourself when they come up with House committees?
They should have done this before now. You don’t put the cart before the horse. If they were so sure of the allegations, they should have set up a committee to investigate the allegations and we would have treated that. Besides, when you accuse me of misappropriation and high-handedness, I have been a Speaker since 2015, why is this coming up now?
Are you able to explain the finances and defend yourself against the allegations of fraud against you?
If I am lying, the bank cannot lie. There is also the Freedom of Information Act. Anybody can approach the bank or account department of the House to seek clarification and know if truly we have made gates at the rate of N16bn; bought Hilux at the rate of N45bn, and the others. I don’t have documents with me. They have the documents. The only way to justify and prove this correctly is to approach the accounting department of the House or the bank for the statement of account.
If any anti-corruption agency takes this up, will you be able to clear your name?
This is not the first time such allegations will come up. What I understand is that in politics, to get rid of you, people will come up with different types of allegations. The last time, there was nothing they did not say about me. My account was blocked for three years. I was going every day to the EFCC office. At the end of the day, they did not find anything. I have been in this system for some time. I will never dip my hand into the treasury. If I do that now, that means I am a stupid person. I understand this game.
Some think you have a problem with ambition. They say you wanted to be governor of Lagos State and you disrespected the governor and the members of the Governor’s Advisory Council.
It is not a sin to have ambition. The governor is my brother, my leader, my everything, and there is no reason for me to disrespect him. If I have taken a step or an action that seems like disrespecting him, that may have happened unconsciously. There is no need to do that. The governor is number one in our state. So, we have to respect him and he is my brother; so, nothing of such.
Have you dropped your governorship ambition?
It is not in my consideration but that does not mean that I am not qualified or I do not have experience. As of now, I have not approached anybody in Lagos about governorship aspiration. I challenge anybody in Lagos, including GAC members who can say I have spoken to them about governorship ambition.
Some say that the audacity you are displaying is because you have the backing of President Bola Tinubu.
I have been following President Bola Tinubu since I left secondary school. I have pictures. During the Social Democratic Party days, I contested for the post of delegate. Since then, I have been one of his disciples and I have not changed. I have always been a loyalist and that will continue. If they are just realising that now, they have not been part of us since Genesis.
Are you saying that the President is not supporting you and that you are doing this all by yourself?
The President has more than enough on his table to take care of than to tinker with the problem of Lagos State House of Assembly but I will always respect him as my father, my leader, my everything; and I will continue to be loyal to him. Whether he asked me or not, I know what is right to be done and I will continue to do that without his approval. So, if anybody wants to read the meaning to that, good luck.
Are you saying the President does not support your ambition to remain Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly?
The President has been a supporter of everybody all over Nigeria. When Buhari was coming, President Bola Tinubu was there; When Raji Fashola was coming, President Tinubu was there; when Akinwunmi Ambode was coming, the President was there; when Babajide Sanwo-Olu was coming, the President was there; when the party was being formed, the President was there, from Alliance of Democracy to Action Congress to Action Congress of Nigeria to All Progressives Congress. So the President has always been a good provider; he has been providing, and protecting us, even beyond Lagos. So don’t disturb yourself by asking if he is backing me or not.
How do you run the affairs of the House when its legitimacy is out of the window? The majority of members are saying that they do not want you.
Time will tell. I am not against them. You cannot force a woman to be your wife. It is a matter of choice. They are my brothers and sisters. Whatever they want to do, nobody is against that. But we remain one. After all, we only have one member of the Labour Party, the rest of us, 39 in total, are members of the APC. So we can all sit together and resolve the issue.
Some developments have been recorded today; the clerk has been reinstated, and you sat with four members. Were you behind the changes?
How did the clerk get reinstated? A pronouncement was made by the court. It was the court pronouncement because his removal was done illegally without following due process. How can you suspend a clerk when he is a civil servant and there is a procedure to remove a civil servant? That is part of what we are talking about. If you want to do something, do it right. Now, the man has been coming to the House, but they did not allow him to take his office. That is contempt of court, but must we go to court to sort out things? I am not against anybody; I am not fighting anybody. There is no intention of a witch-hunt or payback. We just want to work together. You can spend over 20 years in the House of Assembly but you cannot just come and disgrace me, destroy my personality, destroy my reputation; it is not good. If you want to do things, let them do it in a normal way. If you are claiming that something has happened, set up a panel, let us prove it.
Have you met with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu?
Yes. We were together, we spoke at Marina.
What did you tell him? Did you tell him you will succumb and work with him?
We have always been working together. We do not have any differences. He is running his second term; this is his sixth year. He only has two years left.
Are you worried any member of the Lagos executive wanted you out and was behind your removal?
I am not aware of that. I have nothing against them. We have been working together, so why should I worry my head about people interested in removing me? It is not an Obasa chieftaincy title.
Do you consider the implication of your coming back, that is, possible chaos?
There won’t be chaos; there is no chaos. I am still in the office presently; we have people here. We have other members here with us. So, what will bring about chaos? The Lord is behind me; I am a child of God. God is behind me.
Will you be able to tell your Agege people to remain calm because they are known not to be politically easy people?
My people from Agege are cultured, civilised, and educated. I mean they are politically resolute. Go and check the last election and see the numbers that we delivered. So they have the right to be politically resolute and we will continue to do that every election. Go and check the numbers after the election to see how resolute they are and will continue to be to deliver for APC.
