Obasa: Not The Finest Hour

It wouldn’t be a crime to have a dream (Obasa). Yet, in politics, you have to structure your dreams to be in line with the plan of who has the power to help you achieve them. If you like, you can say politics is a very dirty game.

If you dream to be the king, be on the good side of the Kingmakers. Obasa’s case is a tell-tale sign.

Don’t ‘belch beer’ where you need to ‘beg bread’. Obasa’s fall yesterday mirrors a consequence attached to pride, while he might have been more competent than the present governor of Lagos State like he said, a particular Yoruba adage is well tailored for his temperament “Àkín ti ojú oníka mésan ka.” meaning: we shouldn’t count the fingers of a man who is one finger short.

Yesterday, a constitutional coup happened, the location was at the Lagos State House of Assembly, where Mudashiru Obasa, former speaker of the house was legally impeached. If he (Obasa) was asked if he expected the faith he met with yesterday; his response would have been negative. Well that is how mysterious human faith is. How a man falls can be quite surprising: the indignity of one’s legs giving way, his torso obediently following just to reach the ground. 

In Obasa’s case, he ought to have known that the Kingmaker never ceased making kings. The mere fact that he became a King doesn’t stop him from making arrangements for the smaller Baale’s he once made. One thing is clear, unlike the National assembly, the state Assembly can hardly wage war against a sitting governor—not even the one who has the Country’s president as a backup. He has the wheel and decides what happens in the house.

Although observers said a support group, created by Hon. Obasa was targeted at controlling the grassroots ahead of his Lagos governorship ambition in 2027.

Observers also said he took it a little far when he proposed a bill to empower the Assembly to remove the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) chairman and wanted to pressure Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to sign the bill.

But whatever the case, saying you are more competent than the governor is a tall English for a common speaker in a state like Lagos state. In this state, politics is as crazy as joining them because you can’t beat them.

These calculations, the former speaker didn’t make before toppling his own era. He should have done his maths right before stepping on the powerful toes of the Lagos kingmakers.