One month after his removal as the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, has been absent from the sittings in the House.

Society Reporters reports that Obasa was removed by the majority of the 40 lawmakers in the House on January 13, 2025, which makes one month today, February 13, 2025.

The lawmakers cited financial misappropriation and abuse of office as parts of the grounds for Obasa’s removal.

Obasa, who was away in the United States when he was removed, denied the allegations upon his return to Lagos on January 25, 2025, asking the lawmakers to prove their corruption allegations against him.

He also claimed to still be the Speaker of the House, faulting his removal process.

“My status in the house? I believe strongly I am still the speaker until the right thing has been done. If you want to remove me, remove me the proper way and I will not contest it.

“I’m a Muslim and I believe in fate. But let’s do it the way it should be done,” he told journalists shortly after addressing a crowd of supporters at the Speaker’s Lodge, GRA Ikeja on January 25.

Society Reporters reports that Mojisola Meranda, a former Deputy Speaker, who replaced Obasa as the new speaker, has presided over at least five sittings since Obasa’s removal.

Meranda, who has set up new principal officers and committees at the House, will be presiding over a sixth plenary today since Obasa’s removal.

Despite his arrival to the country, Obasa has not been sighted at the House, even as political controversy within his party, the All Progressives Congress, continues to trail the former Speaker’s removal.

The former Speaker’s seat as a lawmaker cannot be declared vacant until he is absent for more than one-third of meetings of the House in a year.

This is according to Chapter 5, Part II, Section 109 (1)(f) of the Nigerian Constitution (1999), which states that a member of a State House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if “Without just cause, he is absent from meetings of the House of Assembly for a period amounting in the aggregate to more than one-third of the total number of days during which the House meets in any one year.”

A source in the Obasa camp, who spoke with The PUNCH on Wednesday, echoed the position of the Vice Chairman of Agege Local Government Area where Obasa is from, that the Lagos State House of Assembly “is still on recess.”

“The House is still on recess,” the source said.

The Vice Chairman of Agege LGA, Oluwagbenga Abiola, while speaking on TVC on Sunday, said Obasa was arguably still the Speaker.

“The House was on recess. The mace, the authority of the house has already taken into acceptance that we’re closing on this date and we’re opening on that date. For you to be able to go against that authority, it must follow a process.

“For you to come back from recess, you must get a letter from the clerk of the House to the speaker, the speaker must accept the reason why you want to come back from recess, and what the speaker has said, and that letter must be signed by a certain number of members addressed to the speaker.”

He added, “The House recognised by law is still in recess as we speak irrespective of the brouhaha ongoing.”

“The House is supposed to resume on February 18, 2025.”

The House Spokesperson, Olukayode Ogundipe, did not respond to calls from our correspondent on Wednesday.

The Punch

The Federal Government has expressed concern over 400,000 Nigerian refugees stranded in Cameroon, Niger and Chad, as plans are underway to repatriate them.

The Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Alhaji Tijani Ahmed, stated this at the Technical Working Group meeting on Wednesday in Abuja.

Ahmed noted that 3,000 refugees were returned last week through the efforts of the Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, and the technical working group, saying that further repatriation plans are ongoing.

The NCFRMI boss said that the tripartite agreement had been reviewed and the necessary steps for continuation of the repatriation process were being considered.

He acknowledged the role the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees played in the repatriation, saying that discussions were ongoing to ensure the process continued smoothly.

Ahmed further said that the Technical Working Group was reviewing past actions and planning future steps, including seeking government and international partners’ support.

He said that the goal was to ensure that the repatriation exercise became a permanent process in the coming weeks.

The federal commissioner, however, underscored the need for governments’ support and the involvement of key stakeholders, particularly international partners.

“We have not less than 400,000 refugees across these zones – Cameroon, Niger and Chad. 3,000 refugees were returned last week Sunday through the efforts of the governor of Borno.

“We have reviewed the processes here, and then we also try to look at what is required of us to do before the continuation of this repatriation.

“UNHCR is key in this direction because they are the third party in the repatriation exercise assigned through our agreements.

“We hope that in the next few weeks, this repatriation will commence and we will continue the exercise,” he said.

On her part, the UNHCR Deputy Representative, Bernadette Muteshi, expressed the UNHCR’s openness to discussing repatriation, deportation, and the welfare of internally displaced persons.

Muteshi noted that the Technical Working Group aimed to support the governments in ensuring the tripartite agreement was followed and adhered to.

“What will be different this time around is that we are leaning greatly on the governments’ responsibility for leadership and ownership of the process.

“We are here to walk along with both governments to ensure that the contents of the tripartite agreement are followed and adhered to.

“But honestly, it’s really about both governments taking leadership and ownership for their nationals in this particular exercise,” she said.

NAN

The national electricity grid collapsed on Wednesday, leading to a nationwide blackout.

Society Reporters reports that the grid lost power generation some minutes after 11 on Wednesday morning.

At 11 am, hourly power generation was 4064 megawatts but this dropped to 1,203MW at 12 pm and 0.00MW at 1 pm.

This is about the first time the grid will collapse in 2025 after it experienced a line tripping in January.

On its X handle on Wednesday, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, AEDC, confirmed the development.

“Dear Valued Customer, We regret to inform you that a system disturbance occurred on the national grid at 11:34 am today causing a power outage across our franchise areas.

While gradual restoration of power supply has commenced, please be assured that we are working closely with relevant stakeholders to fully restore electricity as soon as the grid is stabilised. Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work to serve you better,” the post reads.