After rejecting 17 of the 39 commissioner-nominees forwarded by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for screening, the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, claims the lawmakers are not “fighting” the governor.
The Speaker, who presided over the House’s Monday plenary, stated that, despite threats from some individuals, the Assembly will not disclose its discovery during the screening of the rejected commissioner-nominees.
He stated that no amount of intimidation will persuade the Assembly to modify its constitutional judgement on the governor’s rejected nominees.
Obasa said himself and Sanwo-Olu had come a long way as “brothers”.
“We’ve been around together for long. In the last four years, we have been working together and I wonder why anytime we say ‘no’ to the request of the governor, it becomes something else.
“That is when the so-called elite conclude that we are fighting the governor. The House came up with so many resolutions which the executive did not carry out. Nobody has noticed that, nobody has said anything about that.
“So, I don’t know what informed the erroneous belief that the House is fighting the governor.”
Obasa said the Assembly exercised its constitutional responsibility by confirming and rejecting some of the commissioner-nominees of the governor.
The Speaker said he is trying to protect his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“So, I am trying to protect my party and I would continue to do that but we are not going to sacrifice service to our people in the name of technocrats, no.
“If anybody is interested to know why we have taken such decision, he should approach the House. The House, as a body, restrains itself from exposing what was discovered during the screening exercise and we would not be forced to spill it.”