There is mounting pressure for Mojisola Meranda of the Lagos State House of Assembly to resign as speaker even as her security aides have been withdrawn.
Reports by the PUNCH onThursday morning said security details attached to the speaker including police officers have been withdrawn.
Videos of her going into the assembly for official assignment seen by THE WHISTLER confirmed she was not followed by any security aides except civilian aides.
It is not immediately clear who authorised the withdrawal but a source close to the Speaker confirmed the development.
The source told the paper, “All the Speaker’s security aides have been withdrawn. All the security aides attached to the House of Assembly have also been withdrawn.”
The source further lamented that, “the speaker is now vulnerable.”
The latest development followed weeks of leadership tuttle which saw the impeachment of Mudashiru Obasa while he was away in the US, an impeachment he said was unconstitutional and has approached the court for redress.
The removal of Meranda may not be unconnected to the move by a mediating team including Chief Bisi Akande and Aremo Olusegun Osoba, former governors of Osun and Ogun states respectively to ease the embattled speaker out of office and restore normalcy in the assembly which is sharply divided over the influence of the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and President Bola Tinubu.
The meditating panel reportedly met last Sunday with key stakeholders at the House including members of the Governance Advisory Council at the Governor’s Lodge in Marina in their bid to resolve the political impasse.
Various reports from the meeting said the panel recommended the resignation of Mudashiru Obasa and that Meranda should also step down for a new lawmaker from Lagos West to take the mantle of the House leadership.
The spokesperson for Meranda, Ganzallo Victor, confirmed the latest development saying “we don’t know why the authorities have done that but all the police officers and other security details attached to her have been withdrawn. She’s on her own at the moment.”
Meanwhile, the Obasa camp confirmed that all his aides have now been restored.
“They have restored all Obasa’s security aides as of this morning,” the source said.
