The sermon by former United States of America’s Secretary of State and presidential contender, Hillary Clinton, that nations should commit themselves more, to building strong institutions, rather than producing strong men, has clearly, fallen on rocky soil.
Even in Clinton’s own country, her thesis does not seem, anymore, to have gained traction. Institutions in USA, hitherto standing strong, as bulwark, against overreaching individual ambitions and excesses in the use of power, are now facing the pangs of subjugation.
The advent of President Donald Trump and “co-president” Elon Musk, as ultimate strong men, has entailed a proportional decline in the stature of strong institutions, that once stood like the Rock of Gibraltar.
At the moment, solid institutions that defined the American state, are having their age-long aura of inviolability badly shaken. The world is watching in awe. Clearly, strong men present a great danger to strong institutions, in all societies.
There is nothing new about all that to Nigeria. Strong men have always bestridden the political terrain of the country, nay Africa. In Nigeria, as in the rest of the continent, institutions have always been primed to service and kowtow to strong men. In this part, the essence of the state, with all what it can offer, is, essentially, to service strong men. And they are legion.
Until his death in 2008, at the ripe age of 80 years, the Ibadan politician, Lamidi Adedibu, personified the ultimate strong man in Nigerian politics. His scope was limited,though. While Adedibu actively lived, political parties, political leaders and governments were entitled to have their say on matters of politics, as they concerned the city of Ibadan and its satellite areas. When, however, it came down to decision about who got what, in that part of the South West region, Adedibu held sway. He determined, to a substantial extent, how the pork was allocated. He was the strong man of the zone, and strong men like him must be in the mix.
Strong men are individuals, whose personal preferences and dictates, prevail over institutional provisions and even laws. Whenever such men intervene, the law either looks away or caves in. Their influence and actions can be quite deleterious to institutional order, but they manage to exert their hold on the system. Real strong men do stand up to higher authority.
In the wake of the likes of Adebibu, there has, indeed, not been any other notable political strong man, with total control of his territory like Bola Tinubu in Lagos State.
First, he got himself elected governor and served for two terms. Thereafter, he deployed grit, street smartness and stratagems, to establish himself the strong man of the state. He not only personified Lagos, he personalized it, to the extent that everything, from state policy, allocation of resources and appointments, to even market and motor park activities, coalesced in him.
After he weathered the storm under the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo, he emerged from the confrontation as the undisputed strong man of Lagos. That became his launch pad to higher realms.
Although he lost Lagos state (and perhaps, few others) in the 2023 presidential election, Tinubu successfully blunted the impact of that major loss, by exploiting the dynamics of Nigeria’s politics, navigating the murky waters to get himself to the presidency. So, his strong man status subsists.
Now, something interesting has been stirring in Lagos again, albeit with a different sub-plot. A new strong man seems to be staking his own claim to power and influence in the state.
It is not quite clear, what aces Mudashiru Obasa (old and new speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly) has up his sleeves, in the Lagos politics. He seems, however, to have seen in the battle for speakership of the State House of Assembly, a veritable opportunity to establish his bona fides as the next strong man of Lagos.
Obasa has been insisted, as it were, that the institution of the state should give way to his interest. He finally had his way.
In most states of the federation as of today, the office of speaker of the state assembly is, to all practical purposes, an appendage to the governor’s office. Virtually all houses of assembly are beholden to the governors and the speakers exist at the pleasure of the governors.
Majority of the speakers cannot look their governors in the eyes. Not so with Obasa in Lagos state. He hardly reckons with the governor. In fact, he seems to be tolerating the governor. He had earlier made it known, anyway, that he too is qualified to be governor.
On January 13 2025, while Obasa was on a trip to USA, his colleagues, whether on their own volition, or prompted from without, heaped serious charges against their erstwhile speaker, and impeached him, thereafter. In his stead came in the lady, Mojisolo Meranda, until then, deputy speaker.
Announcing the impeachment of Obasa appeared to be the easier part. What to do with him thereafter, became the big issue.
For eighteen years, starting from 2007, Obasa has been at the Lagos State House of Assembly (representing Agege constituency). For ten of those years, he has been the speaker of the House.
No one, not even an idiot, stays for so long at such a station, without knowing where few bodies are buried. Obasa does not appear to be simple-minded. Anyone therefore, who believed that Mudashiru Obasa could be dispensed with, whimsically, in Lagos politics in this era, must be a joker.
Clearly, his colleagues who impeached him on January 13 2025 did not reckon with the full implication of their action. But then, the law is the law. The Lagos House of Assembly duly impeached Mudashiru Obasa as speaker.
Resolving the conundrum has been a headache of the chieftains of the APC in Lagos.The drama of the Lagos House speakership disputation has been as intricate as good scripts come.
On Thursday February 27 2025, for the first time since he returned from the costly trip to USA, Obasa, who had earlier been stripped of his security details, decided that it was time to go to the Assembly. Somehow, a full detachment of security details was given to him. He returned triumphantly to his office and actually held a “plenary” of the only four members of the Assembly he could muster. Thereafter he announced to the media that he has “resumed duty”.
Meanwhile, while Obasa’s security details were being restored, for him to go back to the Assembly, on February 27th, the speaker, Mrs. Meranda’s own security details were withdrawn.
The question is, who was playing poker with the main characters in the drama at the Lagos House of Assembly? Could it have been the Inspector General of Police? Or the National Security Adviser (NSA)? Or Aso Rock, where the godfather seemed to have found himself in betwixt and in between?
Although Obasa claimed that he is his own man, fully responsible for all his actions,his claims were neither here, nor there. He obviously, did not provide a truck load of policemen for himself. Someone approved that, without which he could not have moved.
Interestingly too, ladt weekend, a source at the contraption known as Governance Advisory Committee (GAC),a top-leadership cadre of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos, which had substantially backed the impeachment of Obasa all this while, reportedly said that the State Assembly “does not have full powers to remove or install their speaker”. Yet it is called a legislature, created by law.
The Lagos State House of Assembly leadership issue did not have to become the imbroglio it turned into, but for the fact that the law easily gives way to strong men in the Nigerian society. It is possible that Obasa’s colleagues were harsh on him, but a lawful process transpired at the Assembly, leading to his removal. Now,he has retrieved his seat.
The settlement terms, reportedly brokered by the leaders of APC, allowed Obasa to return to his seat as speaker,after which he will then resign with dignity. It is a typical Nigerian solution; pacify as many as can be pacified, starting from the strongest.
In many such instances, the institutions are left as orphans, but who cares?
What has happened at the Lagos State House of Assembly and in Rivers State, or in some other states, should be of interest to Nigerians, beyond the borders of the relevant states. Democracy is passing through turbulence in Nigeria,at the moment. Chicanery of the most pernicious type is being promoted as due process, even as charade prevails in many places of honour.
Inevitably, the society pays for every law bent, or every provision turned upside down, simply to appease a strong man, or to pay back a political capital.
There is no problem with Obasa staking a claim to being a new strong man of Lagos, who cannot be discarded easily. Surely, a labourer deserves his wages. The concern has been about weakening institutions of the state, merely to accommodate individual idiosyncrasies.
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