Obasa’s alleged wrongful removal suit hearing adjourned to March 10

Credit: NAN

An Ikeja High Court on Friday extended until March 10 to hear the suit filed by the reinstated Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa.

Obasa is challenging the allegations that led to his initial removal as speaker, which included fraud, high-handedness, abuse of office, and gross misconduct.

The respondents in the suit are members of the state assembly and former speaker, Mojisola Meranda.

When the case was called on Friday, Justice Yetunde Pinheiro, ordered all parties to file and serve their processes before the next adjourned date.

She adjourned the case until March 10 for the hearing of all applications, including Obasa’s originating summon.

Earlier, Obasa’s lead counsel, Afolabi Fasanu (SAN), informed the court that though the embattled speaker had been reinstated, the suit had not become an academic exercise.

He argued that the claimant was not given a fair hearing.

According to him, the speaker is now contending with the allegations in the notice of his removal.

Romeo Ese-Michael, counsel to the 34 lawmakers, said: “Even if the complainant withdraws his suit due to his re-election, our counterclaim still stands.

“The lawmakers want the court to declare that the speaker’s removal was constitutional and was in tandem with Section 92 of the 1999 Constitution, rather than the rules guiding the Lagos State House of Assembly”.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Obasa was impeached on Jan. 13, following allegations of gross misconduct and abuse of office, and the deputy was elected as his successor.

However, on March 3, Obasa was reinstated as the speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly.