…How Ladi Ajomale, Temitope JAH, Sketel masterminded Obasa’s Removal_
Monday 13th January 2025 started just like any other day in the beautiful premises of Lagos State House of Assembly in Alausa axis of Ikeja. However, by midday of this particular Monday, a major parliamentary coup de’tat had taken place. By the time the dust settled, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa’s near-ten year Speakership hegemony had been brought to an abrupt end, and a new Sheriff had taken over.
Over three weeks after this stunning parliamentary insurrection, however, the Lagos political establishment is currently being rocked to its very foundation, and a lot of internal crises and questions are springing up by the day.
Contrary to a previous narrative that the President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the brain behind Obasa’s impeachment, it had emerged now emerged that the President, who is the leader and the number one authority of the party in Lagos and Nigeria, was not aware of the plot at all.
The question being asked now is, who initiated the plot to change the Assembly leadership? Who coordinated the plans? Who funded the plot? Who used the name of the President to co-opt others into the plot? How did the planners gain access to the strong room housing the Mace? Who broke the doors of the Chamber to allow the lawmakers to sit when.there was a sine die adjournment? Who was the arrowhead of the plot? Why were some key lawmakers not carried along?
These and many more are the questions on the lips of the leaders of the party in Lagos at the moment.
In this piece, we take a look at some of the principal actors in unprecedented impeachment plot that is currently puzzling the leadership of APC in Lagos.
*1–HON. LADI AJOMALE:* Son of former Chairman of APC in Lagos and lawmaker representing Oshodi-Isolo Constituency 1 at the Lagos House of Assembly, Ladi was the initiator and arrowhead of the impeachment plot.
Peeved by revelations of ex-Speaker Obasa’s humongous maleficent and the reprehensible treatment lawmakers had suffered in the hands of Obasa, Ladi, who was elected to the house for the first time in 2023 as a compensation for his father’s labour in APC, was said to have said: “Enough is Enough, this institution cannot continue like this”.
His first move was to reach out to some of his fellow first-time lawmakers and secure their support. Interestingly, Ladi’s move started after some leaders of Governors Advisory Council (GAC), reported Obasa’s misdemeanor to the President, and he allegedly lambasted Obasa for disrespecting the governor and for other sundry offenses.
*How Ladi Dropped The Name of The President*
Those in the know revealed that the reported anger of the President against Obasa made it easy for Ladi to use the name of President Tinubu as the one that ordered the impeachment of Obasa.
Curiously, many of the legislators fell for this narrative hook line and sinker and joined the plot without any fact-checking.
Insiders revealed that Ladi Ajomale was the Coordinator-General and the master strategist of the impeachment plot. After, securing the support of the new lawmakers using Asiwaju’s name, Ladi deftly moved to coopt the ranking members, who fell into the plot for many personal and collective reasons.
*2–HON. TEMITOPE ADEWALE (JAH)*–A second term legislator representing Ifako-Ijaiye Constituency 01 in the House of Assembly, JAH as Adewale is fondly called, is known to be fiercely ambitious to be the Lagos State House of Assembly’s Speaker, right from his first term in 2019.
The son of a late prominent politician called JAH in Ifako-Ijaiye, Adewale, who is a very close ally of Governor Sanwoolu, is another henchman and Mastermind of the Obasa’s impeachment plot.
It was easy for him to join the plot for three reasons: (1)–He had fallen out with Obasa since the inception of the 10th Assembly to so many allegations (2)–He has a burning ambition to become the Speaker, by any means possible.(3)–Being from Lagos West Senatorial District, JAH reckoned that, with Obasa out of the picture, the Speakership post will be retained in Lagos West and if that comes to play, he believed he has an edge over ranking lawmakers like Hon. David Setonji and Hon. Damola Kasumu, who are both 3rd term legislators.
Thus, when he joined the plot, JAH practically took over the entire coup planning and left no one in doubt that he wanted the Speaker’s seat, by all means, most especially since Hon. Kasumu, who is a ranking lawmaker from the same Lagos West) was not involved in the plot.
When the other leaders of the plot decided to hand over the Speakership to Hon. Mojisola Meranda, due to her being the highest ranking member after Obasa, Adewale JAH was terribly disappointed and dejected. This state of mind informs his philosophical posts on Social media in recent times.
*Plan B of the Son of JAH*
With the current state of things in the House of Assembly, most especially as a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the Speakership of Hon. Meranda, JAH is currently said to be scheming frantically to emerge as the Speaker if the party leaders finally return the seat to Lagos West. His albatross, however, will be his involvement in the coup-like plot that removed Obasa as Speaker without the approval of the leadership.
At the moment, JAH is running helter-shelter to achieve his ambition.
*3–HON. SYLVESTER OGUNKELU (SKETEL)*The James Bond Of The Plot.
–A second term lawmaker representing Epe Constituency 2, Sketel is another key actor in the Obasa’s impeachment plot.
While Hon. Ladi and Hon. JAH could be regarded as the architect and strategist, Sketel acted as the James Bond in the Movie-like impeachment saga. He was the enforcer who brought brute force into the plot and ensured nothing failed.
According to multiple sources in the assembly who witnessed the Monday morning blitzkrieg in the Complex, Stekel it was who brought in fierce-looking group thugs into the premises.
According to witnesses, it was these thugs (popularly known as Eru Iku in political circuits) who broke into the office of the Clerk and brought out the Mace, under the active supervision of Sketel.
After retrieving the Mace, by vandalizing the office of the Clerk, Sketel was said to have taken the Mace, hid it in his car and personally brought it to the Chambers amidst tight security provided by the fully armed thugs imported into the House, to commence the impeachment process.
To Be Continued…
