Lagos Speakership Seat: Who Takes It?

The battle for the speakership seat of the Lagos State House of Assembly hots up just few days to the end of the session with no one knowing the direction the wind will blow.

They started as friends. In fact, they were jolly good fellows. But the current status of the relationship between the Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji and the Majority, Taiwo Kolawole, is tearing the House apart.

Historians in the House told Assembly Matters that the relationship began when the former Speaker, Jokotola Pelumi, was impeached. According to them, Kolawole was one of the staunch supporters of Ikuforiji for the position. He was said to have assisted Ikuforiji to ensure that the latter got a lot of support from his colleagues and he eventually won. As a result, ikuforiji also worked for him to become the majority Leader of the House.

The friendship continued through kolawole’s trying times. He was to be impeached with the former Deputy Speaker of the House, Funmilayo Tejuosho. Ikuforiji, it was, who came to his rescue, according to one of the lawmakers.

The two principal officers, who people thus saw as inseparable are now at war. Their target is the speakership position. The newspapers have also cashed on this cold war to speculate on their chances among the 40 members who make up the House.

The struggle for the highest seat in the Assembly actually started many months before the campaigns for the recent general elections. Assembly Matters learnt that during this period, some of the lawmakers became ambitious for the position. But their chances became slim with the news that the Majority Leader might be endorsed for the position.

Before Kolawole was touted as the one to succeed Ikuforiji, who will have spent six years at the end of the sixth Assembly in June, it was gathered that he was making moves for election into the House of Representatives. “He had spent well over N30 million for underground campaign before he was told to come back to the House to take over as Speaker while the current Speaker would be moving higher,” a lawmaker very close to Kolawole told Assembly Matters last week.

Within the period, Hon. Kolawole, who represents one of the two constituencies of Ajeromi/Ifelodun, was made to preside over a sitting of the House with Ikuforiji sitting at the gallery to watch the day’s proceeding. With this, it was concluded by staff and visitors to the House that the Majority Leader had become the anointed one.

But the calculation suddenly changed with Ikuforiji shifting tent to Ikeja from his original Epe constituency which he had represented for eight years. It then dawned on the Majority Leader that his ambition might be scuttled. And so the battle began.

Investigation revealed that though Ikuforji had made a mark in the House as one of the best Speakers the state has ever produced, his opponents and supporters of the Majority Leader have continued to hammer on some of his weaknesses to press home their campaign. They have been further empowered by the leadership of the party which is said not to have made any categorical statement as to who the chosen candidate should be.

Among those opposed to his return as Speaker are many of the out-going members of the Assembly. Some of them believe he has done enough to allow another person to take over the seat of power. They are also bitter that he could not come to their aid when they had challenges resulting from their party primaries. One of them confided in Assembly Matters that even before the issue of who becomes the Speaker arose, the House had been polarised.

He said: “If you watch closely, you would realise that not all of us could talk at the floor of the House. This was because we were scared of becoming victims of the unknown.”

It was learnt that the two camps have met with the former governor of the state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, over the issue, but it was learnt that they have so far tried to in vain to win his blessing. “The Majority Leader and his loyalists, about 10 of them, even went as far as informing Tinubu that the Speaker had sat on the funds for the running of the House and that he makes some of the funds available to those he likes. But Tinubu did not buy that kind of cheap lies. Instead, he castigated them and told them that the seat is not vacant,” a source closed to the Speaker said.

According to him, Kolawole’s desperation stems from the fact that after selling his House of Representatives slot to one of his loyalists, it has dawned on him that he may have to remain the Majority Leader or even a floor member for the next four years.

However, another lawmaker, Adelabu Onibiyo, has described as a blatant lie the notion that Tinubu has settled the issue. According to him, the leader of the ACN only advised them that whoever was interested in the seat should not injure other contenders. The lawmaker also said the battle for the seat was only between Ikuforiji and Kolawole as against the belief that others like Tejuosho were in the race.

“The much he (Tinubu) said was that we should behave in a manner that will be befitting of the House, so there is no indication that he supported anybody,” Onibiyo said, while maintaining that there was a fifth columnist in all the publications on the issue in the newspapers so far.

Commending Ikuforiji, he said the Speaker has so far done well and that he can still do more.

A lawmaker, who preferred to be neutral, also confided in Assembly Matters that he would still go for Ikuforiji since, according to him, “the devil you know is better than the angel you are scared of.

“Tell me who is a saint among them? Those accusing Ikuforiji now are those who ate with him in the past. It is better we allow him to continue because of his experience, but before then, we would warn him against taking his colleagues for a ride. If he fails, then he would be impeached.”

Another lawmaker said: “I am enjoying all these. And I want you to watch what will happen in the next Assembly. Honestly, there would not be major work, but controversies that would lead to disruption in the running of the House in the next session.

“I know they may not allow Ikuforiji to be himself if he emerges the Speaker. If Kolawole is also made the Speaker, don’t be surprised that we could be talking about impeachment within six months into the session.”

In all these, Ikuforiji has remained silent even though sources say he is working on support from the newly elected members. He only spoke once about his ambition when he said he was vying for the seat and that despite his efforts at bringing the House to excellence, there were still challenges calling for his attention. “He is very mature about it,” said one of his supporters. “Despite what is happening, he has remained an umbrella for us all,” he added.

As it is now, a surprise may still spring up before June when they are expected wrap up this session.