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Mojisola Meranda, Lagos First Female Speaker Who Started Politics At 18

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On Monday, the reign of Mudashiru Obasa as the speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly came to a rough end. The ugly painting had been coming together on the walls of Alausa for Obasa for a while.

But before the Agege political titan could decipher the full picture, he was gone. His tenure as the number three citizen in Lagos smouldered in its 10th year — on the same floor it all began.

It was swift, decisive, and unanimous, as though the lawmakers had long made the decision over Chrismas rice and chicken. No resistance was allowed. The youths who trespassed into the assembly complex to protest the impeachment were arrested and forced to pledge their allegiance to the All Progressives Congress (APC) amid campaign songs and slogans. As Obasa’s sun quenches, a new star rises in its wake.

Mojisola Lasbat Meranda was unanimously elected to lead the house. The 44-year-old was the deputy speaker until Obasa’s ouster. She became the first female speaker of the Lagos state house of assembly since 1999.

A ROYAL BLOOD WHO STARTED POLITICS AT 18

Before she married John Paul Meranda and changed her surname, she was Mojisola Ojora Lawal, a princess whose blue blood is a pool of contributions from a few of Lagos’ royal families. Her relatives have been kings and are still rulers in the Ijora, Lagos Island, and Oniru areas of the state.

She was born on August 16, 1980, as a descendant of two prominent royal families in Lagos. Taoreed Lawal-Akapo, the late Ojora of Lagos, was her father; and Muinat, her mother, was a princess from the illustrious Oniru kingdom. Abdulwasiu Omogbolahan Lawal, Mojisola’s brother, is the current Oniru of the Iru kingdom.

Politics has a magnetic force. When one grows up close to its corridors, one is most likely to be swept into its whirlwind. Mojisola was drafted into politics early in life.

“I grew up in a political arena. I had siblings that were into politics and I used to just sit down and listen to them, watch them and gradually, I learnt and thereafter picked interest in it,” she said in a chat with Nigerian Tribune in 2013.

“It has always been in me to always want to give back to my community. So, I imagined myself in a particular position where I could influence people’s lives positively. So, that has always been in me. So, going into politics was like gaining a platform to reach out to my people.”

Mojisola started politics at age 18, attending ward meetings with her brothers and cousins as soon as she could vote.

“I would sit with them and listen to them, and if I had anything to contribute to whatever was being discussed, I contributed, and if I didn’t have any, I would simply sit down and observe,” she told City People Magazine in 2023.

Before that, she was also a leader in her various schools. Mojisola attended Lagos Anglican Girls Grammar School and Ansar-Ud-Deen Secondary School. According to Daily Champion, she was a library prefect and the secretary of her school’s press club.

Her childhood dream was to become a lawyer, but she shelved it after failing to attain the score needed to study law.

“I did a diploma course, though I wanted to be a lawyer. Unfortunately, I didn’t make the cut-off mark required to study the course, so I opted for something else,” she told The Nation in 2020.

“I still went on to do the diploma course because of my interest in law. But, of course, growing up, I discovered that there were other courses that one could do apart from law.”

A younger Meranda with President Bola Tinubu
A PERSONAL ASSISTANT TO TINUBU’S AIDE AT 23

In 2003, at just 23, Mojisola became a personal assistant to Olumuyiwa Gbadegesin, a senior special assistant on information and technology to Bola Tinubu, when he was Lagos governor.

“He was the SSA on information technology, and it was with him that I started my career professionally,” she said.

“I worked with him, and we were together before Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu moved him to the Land Information System Support Unit, where he served as the director under the office of the surveyor general. I was also there with him.”

Mojisola got her first major post-secondary school certification in 2005. She earned an advanced certificate in software development.

After a brief stay at Cirrus Nigeria Ltd, an energy company, Mojisola was named the senior special assistant on inter-governance relations to Ayodeji Joseph, the chairman of Apapa LGA, in 2008.

“During his second tenure, I was given an appointment as his supervisory councillor for health in Apapa, an office in which I am proud to say I did well,” she said.

“And that was the turning point for me because I thought to myself and said, ‘if I could excel and do so well as a supervisory councillor, why don’t I aspire for something higher?’”

Along the way, she got her first degree in public administration from Lagos State University in 2013.

ONE OF FOUR WOMEN IN 8TH LAGOS ASSEMBLY

At 34, Mojisola was elected into the Lagos state house of assembly in 2015. She became the representative of the Apapa 1 constituency and one of only four women in the 40-member house inaugurated by Akinwunmi Ambode, former governor of Lagos, in June of that year.

Other women in the house were Omotayo Oduntan, Mosunmola Sangodara and Funmilayo Tejuosho.

Meranda with Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos
Mojisola was re-elected to the house in 2019 and became its chief whip a year later. She was the chairperson of the house committee on women’s affairs and poverty alleviation.

Upon re-election into the house for her third term, Mojisola became the deputy speaker.

MORE INTERESTED IN AMENDING OLD LAWS THAN SPONSORING NEW BILL

In 2021, when Mojisola was asked to list the bills she had sponsored since she became a lawmaker, her response was surprising.

“I think it is not about sponsoring bills because we have a lot of old laws that need repeal and amendment,” she said

“So, I think we need to update our own side first. It is not about sponsoring a bill, and after a while, we leave it on the shelf. So, I think we should concentrate on the old laws that need amendment and maybe take a step further by ensuring that there is proper enforcement.”

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Lagos Speakership: Tinubu Not Reinstating Obasa —Source

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•GAC meets today

The Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC) of the Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) will, on Monday, meet to discuss the speakership crisis at the Lagos State House of Assembly and not the possibility of Mudashiru Obasa returning as speaker.

A member of the apex advisory body in the state, who spoke in confidence with the Nigerian Tribune, also dismissed the narration that President Bola Tinubu has ordered the reinstatement of the erstwhile speaker.

The state assembly has been embroiled in controversy crisis since the removal of Honourable Mudashiru Obasa as speaker by lawmakers on January 13.

He was subsequently replaced by his deputy, Mojisola Lasbat Meranda, as speaker of the 10th assembly.

However, Obasa’s removal has polarised the leadership of the party following media reports and narrations from different camps clamouring for his reinstatement as speaker of the Assembly.

A top-ranking member of the GAC ruled out the possibility of Obasa returning as speaker.

He also dismissed media reports that President Tinubu has ordered his reinstatement, alleging that the media of overhyping the political status of the Agege Constituency 1 lawmaker.

The source said: “We are meeting tomorrow, Monday to discuss the Lagos State House of Assembly and not Obasa. If you observed, the GAC sent a delegation comprising members of the Council and the leadership of the Lagos Assembly to meet with President Bola Tinubu. At the meeting, the issue was discussed and solutions were proffered.

“So, all what the people are saying about the return of Obasa is a fallacy. They are orchestrated by his loyalists. Such order was not from the president. I want you to know that he cannot be reinstated because he was the first speaker to be removed by members of the House.

“We all know the president as a thoroughbred democrat and do you think he would want to be given a bad name?

“Since the episode of his removal, if you see any chieftain of the party, politician or members of the GAC clamouring for the return of Obasa, such person is not being sincere.”

The tussle over speakership seat at the assembly has also caused disaffection and divergent views among members of the GAC, as those belonging to the Justice Forum (JF) and members of the Mandate Movement (MM) are not on the same page.

Obasa, a member of the Mandate Movement, has the support and backing of members of the Movement at the GAC, while members of the Justice Forum are opposed to his return.

Speaking to this, the source said people should discountenance such narrative because there is no disagreement among members of the GAC over Obasa’s removal or reinstatement as speaker.

The source added; “The leadership tussle at the Assembly has nothing to do with the Mandate Movement and the Justice Forum. It is entirely an Assembly affairs. There is no original leader of the party that has been steadfast with Tinubu since 1999 that will be pushing for such narratives.

“Those members of the GAC that are clamouring for the return of Obasa are not sincere. They are those that have jumped from one party to another and thereafter, return to the progressives fold. Go and check their antecedents. This is not about MM or JF.

‘We have a political structure that is strong enough in Lagos state. We are gifted to have a political father that is like Tinubu. Are we saying because the President is enmeshed in solving the problems of the country, he is no longer the leader of Lagos politics?

“He cannot allow the political space of the state to be toxic and shaky. We are meeting on Monday at the level of the GAC to discuss happenings at the Assembly and not Obasa.

“People should stop exaggerating him. The first speaker of the Lagos Assembly, Barrister Osinowo during the Jakande era was removed, so what’s the fuse about Honourable Mudashiru Obasa being removed as speaker?”

“Some are even saying Tinubu is reinstating him because he knows too much and that he has enough information to nail the president’s reason he ordered his return. What does he know about the president?

“What does he know that former governors and speakers in the state didn’t know? What is new about Tinubu that only Obasa knows? Like I keep saying Obasa is overhyped and that’s responsible for all the falsehood in the media space.”

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2027: North Central Won’t Go Into Alliance With North-East, North-West – APC Forum

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Ahead of the 2027 general election, the North-Central All Progressives Congress, APC, Forum has declared that the North-Central zone will not go into any coalition with the North-East and the North-West.

There are speculations that ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar, former governors of Kaduna and Rivers states, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and Rotimi Amaechi, and Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate in 2023, Peter Obi, are planning to join forces against President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

The speculations heightened after the opposition politicians criticised Tinubu’s government and the ruling APC at the National Conference on Strengthening Democracy in Nigeria, held on Monday, 27th January 2025, in Abuja.

El-Rufai at the event urged opposition parties to unite and form a broad coalition to challenge the APC and protect democracy in the country.

In a statement made available to journalists on Saturday in Abuja, the North-Central APC Forum said the zone would not be part of any coalition that includes the North-East and the North-West.

In the statement signed by its Chairman, Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, a member of the APC presidential campaign council in the 2023 election, the Forum said the North-Central does not want a repeat of what happened after it played a major role in the coalition that led to the formation of the APC and emergence of the government of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

In February 2013, Nigeria’s three biggest opposition parties at the time – the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP – teamed up with a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, and a camp in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to form the APC.

The CPC camp, which was led by Buhari, included Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State, from the North-Central.

As at the time of the merger, the North-West zone had only one governor among the parties in the coalition – Zamfara State governor Abdul’aziz Abubakar Yari of the ANPP.

The ACN was led by Tinubu, who later became the national leader of the APC.

The only ACN governor at the time of the merger, Dr. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, left office in October 2014, just over a year after the new party was formed. Although Peter Obi was Anambra State governor on APGA’s platform at the time of the merger, he was not part of the party’s faction that joined the coalition that formed the APC.

The statement noted that the North-Central was relegated to the background by the North-East and the North-West during Buhari’s administration, despite playing a major role in the coalition that brought the government.

“The North-Central brought a sitting governor in the coalition. Many of the other zones did not bring anything.

“Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa State in the North-Central was the only sitting governor that actively participated in forming the APC.

“But it is unfortunate that after he became President, Buhari did not even consider that when we asked for the position of Speaker and the position was taken to Lagos.

“During Buhari’s government the North-Central suffered most – we were denied infrastructure, our roads were not attended to and the high level ot insecurity in the region was not addressed.

“Instead the North-East and the North-West concentrated all the benefits in their zones. Federal appointments, which many Nigerians believed favoured the North, only went to the two zones. The North-Central was left out,” the statement said.

According to the APC Forum, the request by the North Central Elders Forum, NCEF, for the zone to be given the chance to produce the Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2019, was rejected by the the APC leadership because Buhari, from the North-West, did not approve the plea.

The statement added that the position of Senate President in the Buhari government, which went to the North-Central following the election of Senator Bukola Saraki, from Kwara State, should have been retained by the zone during Buhari’s second term.

Ahmed Lawan, from Yobe State, replaced Saraki as Senate President in Buhari’s second term, serving in the position from June 2019 to the end of the administration in 2023.

The North-Central APC Forum said not retaining the Senate presidency in the zone, after Saraki’s tenure, was an injustice to the region.

Distancing the North-Central from the coalition, the statement added, “Whatever Atiku Abubakar and Mallam Nasir El-Rufai are doing is for their own benefit, not even in the interest of the North-East and North-West.

“Nigerians should also bear in mind that all these politicians who are attacking President Bola Tinubu today are just frustrated individuals who are angry that they are not part of the government.

“They will be singing a different song if they are part of the government.

“We restate our position that no magic would make President Bola Tinubu lose his bid for reelection in 2027 – not even the alliance and coalition of these political leaders. We are confident that Nigerians will once again chose the APC government in the next election because of the good performance of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

“However, the North-Central APC Forum wishes to make it clear that the North-Central zone will not be part of any coalition with the North-East and the North-West.

“It is very imperative that we make this point because we have observed that the planned coalition is being championed by politicians from these two zones – His Excellency Alhaji Atiku Abubakar from the North-East and Mallam Nasir El-Rufai from the North-West.”

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Resign From PDP Now And Join APC – Bala Mohammed Tells Wike

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Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed has asked the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike to resign from the Peoples Democratic Party over alleged anti-party activities.

Bala Mohammed, who accused the FCT Minister of already serving the ruling party, All Progressives Congress’s interests, said it’s better for him to join the APC officially.

He labeled Wike’s attempts to tarnish his reputation as desperate and ineffective, stating that Nigerians can see through the minister’s alleged facade.

JomogNews recalls that the Bauchi governor, on Thursday slammed Wike, calling him a “transactional politician” whose loyalty shifts with his personal ambitions.

Reacting, Wike in a statement by his media aide, Lere Olayinka, tackled Mohammed, accusing him of being a greedy politician.

Olayinka urged the governor to stop using the appointment of the minister by President Bola Tinubu as an excuse for his “lack of capacity to provide leadership as chairman of the party’s Governors’ Forum”.

But responding in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mukhtar Gidado, Mohammed who doubles as Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum described Wike’s recent attack as reckless, deceptive, and reflective of declining political relevance.

He accused Wike of a pattern of betrayal, citing figures such as Senator John Azuta Mbata, Dr. Peter Odili, and Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi as victims of Wike’s alleged treachery.

The statement further criticized Wike’s tenure as a “use-and-dump” politician who contributed to internal crises within the PDP by orchestrating the downfall of successive party leaders, including Uche Secondus and Iyorchia Ayu.

“Let Nyesom Wike be reminded that while he lives in a delusional self-created universe of seeing splits and factions in the PDP the party is resolute and united apart from a few turncoats and quislings led by him who are desperately committed to weakening it for the benefit of the APC whose willing tool and favoured foot soldier he has become.

“Under Sen Bala Mohammed’s vibrant and visionary leadership the PDP Governors Forum and the party’s core organs including the BOT are working quietly and assiduously in cleaning the party of Wike’s treachery and perfidy.

“Such a path of perdition is not the portion of genuine PDP members who are working tirelessly to retire the APC in 2027- the very party, with its failed policies, that Wike has vowed to help win re-election in 2027.

“Wike’s antics cannot detract Bala Mohammed’s record. His outburst is the desperate cry of a man whose political relevance is fading.

“The time for noise making is over; it is time for governance. Let Wike reflect on his conduct and do the honorable thing: RESIGN AND ALIGN FULLY WITH THE APC he so eagerly serves. Until then his words will remain as hollow as his loyalty,” the statement reads.

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