A friend in power is a lost friend’. These immortal words of American historian, Henry Adams, are presently playing out between the Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, and his erstwhile godfather, Hon. Bayo Osinowo, popularly known as ‘Pepper’. Urban Life was reliably informed that the cold war between the two former allies has now escalated, and may soon turn the House upside down, if urgent care is not taken by the party elders to whittle down the messy development that may not augur well for the Speaker at the end of the whole debacle. Many are now wondering aloud what might have been the cause of the rift between the former close associates. But those in the know are crying foul that the matter may not be unconnected with the money-sharing formula within the House, of which the Speaker is believed to be at the helm. The crack in the House has become so glaring that it is now being discussed in hush tones within the Assembly complex in Alausa and even the entire Lagos political landscape. We gathered that what finally blew the lead is a recent largesse that was said to have been given to the Assembly by the Governor, which Obasa, as the Speaker, refused to share equitably among the rest members of the House. Urban Life also gathered that, even at his Agege Constituency1, the constituents are not exactly happy with him, as he has not brought any tangible development project to the area. He is alleged to be acquiring properties here and there within his Agege enclave, especially in GreenHill Estate and even outside that domain. As the heat steams up, we hear Pepper and his gang within the House, may very soon square up to impeach the Speaker if the feud does not abate in good time.
The unwholesome development is now taking on the shape of dividing the house into caucuses between loyal members of the Speaker and those of the five-term member of the hitherto vibrant LSHA, Hon. Pepper, who was believed to have been very instrumental to Obasa’s emergence as the Speaker. Expectedly, in the raging face-off, most members of the House cued up behind Pepper in the great divide in the LSHA, because of Pepper’s long standing in the House. And as if these were not enough, insiders also alleged that most of Obasa’s aides are severally grumbling over the Speaker’s uncaring attitude to them on financial matters. A case in hand was the huge amount allegedly allocated to them for sundry allowances and perks, which has not been given to them to date; even as most of them are not happy about the ‘akagum’ attitude of their boss, who on the other side, has acquired wealth with his office, leaving those working with him and their family members in abject poverty. Another twist to Obasa’s current travails is that, the embattled Speaker is touted to be involved in several diabolical adventures which he uses to oil his ego in his plum office, and which many say has been working for him since he became the numero uno member of the House. Obasa is also allegedly believed to be investing heavily in moves to install the next Agege LGand Orile-Agege LCDA bosses in the forthcoming council elections.
A move, elders of APC in these two councils are also not happy with Obasa’s flagrant attempt to impose his protégés on them as their next LG bosses in the coming elections. Another interesting dimension to the travails of Rt. Hon. Obasa, is his alleged stay-tight at home approach in recent times, apparently because he doesn’t want to leave any vacuum for the alleged plots by his opposing fellow members to impeach him. He now rarely moves out of Lagos, or even the country, in order not to allow any yawning gap to be cashed in on by his traducers, as it were. The more reason he opted not to perform the last Umrah in Saudi Arabia, a trip he has rarely missed, since he became a lawmaker over a decade ago.
SOURCE : URBAN LIFE