Lasbat Meranda Takes Over As Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly

Hon Lasbat Meranda, representative of Apapa Constituency 1, has been sworn-in on Tuesday as the new Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly. 

His emergence is coming on the heels of the impeachment of erstwhile Speaker, Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa, over alleged gross misconduct, earlier same same day.

Obasa's troubles began when a faction of the house, known as the Lagos State Anti-Corruption Coalition, raised a number of corruption allegations over which they demanded investigation.

However, the allegations were dismissed by the Speaker and his supporters who claimed that those behind the allegations are jokers in the main because the allocations for the assembly over the fiscal year, over which they based some of their claims, is far less than what is alleged to have been misappropriated.

Describing the allegations as “spurious and funny”, the former Speaker, who represents Agege State Constituency 1, dismissed the claims, including the one that says the Assembly, under his leadership, spent N17bn on the construction of a gate.

According to the former Speaker, the unfounded claims were being raised following certain concerns over the 2027 elections, which he said, are still over two years away.

He also refuted allegations by the group that the Assembly spent N200m to organize the 22nd Thanksgiving Service for members of Staff of the assembly.

“It is so funny. How much is the allocation of the Assembly in the whole year that we will decide to spend N17 billion on a gate? They even claimed that we expended 200 million on Thanksgiving which did not hold.

“We are aware that at a period like this when we are approaching elections in 2027, we should expect such things. I think some people are scared and I don’t know why.

“This House did not and has not embarked on any such project. We are not that reckless. We had our Thanksgiving last Friday and dignitaries from various parts of the State attended it,” the Speaker said.

Obasa's trouble is not only limited to forces within the assembly. He is also said to be on the bad book of more forces outside the assembly who want his removal following what they described as his lukewarm attitude to the interest shown on the governorship ticket by Seyi, the on of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Not least is the alleged relationship between the former Speaker and the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ola Olukoyede. He was alleged to have been at the screening and confirmation of the anti-graft Czar, at the National Assembly, a claim he denied.

“They said that I was at the National Assembly when they were confirming the EFCC chairman. I want to believe that there are CCTV cameras at the National Assembly to identify those who attended the event. The press must have written about it too. So the group should do more to confirm if I was there.

“This is just to deny the allegations in the interest of the public and not the writers because the writers are not those we should be joining words with,” he Speaker pointed out.