Hitherto, the Speakership seat of the Lagos State House of Assembly seemed tailor-made for the incumbent, Rt Hon Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa.
Investigations earlier revealed that Rt Hon Obasa was coasting home with no visible opposition to his ambition to become the longest serving Assembly Speaker in the history of the state.
Obasa had always been an history maker. He was the first former lawmaker from the grassroots to become the Speaker in Lagos State. Obasa was an elected councillor in Agege Local Government between 1999 to 2022.
Just recently, he became the first lawmaker in Lagos State to be elected for six consecutive terms. He first came into the House in 2003 and he has been there since while he was elected Speaker in 2015.
After the 2023 general elections and Obasa was reelected to serve for the sixth term, his returning as Speaker of the House was to many and maybe he himself, a forgone conclusion.
The story changed last week.
Honourable Mustain Abiodun Tobun, Epe State Constituency I and Chairman of the House Committee on Works in the outgoing 9th Assembly publicly declared his intention to run for the Speakership seat of the state Assembly.
According to investigations, Tobun informed his colleagues including the incumbent Speaker of his intention to run during the induction ceremony for newly elected members which took place at Marriott Hotel, GRA, Ikeja last week.
While many were surprised, some of the lawmakers weren’t. Speculations that Tobun will run for the number one lawmaker seat in the state has been on for long before the man declared his intention last week.
Tobun himself is not a small fry in the House. The incoming 10th Assembly will be his fourth consecutive term in the House having made his debut in 2011.
Tobun is also an history maker in his own right, he is the first Lawmaker from Epe to be elected for four consecutive terms, a clear indication that he indeed is a man of the people.
He’s also well respected in the House and was and is still one of the most active members of the House. He contributes extensively on to debates on the floor of the House, is always active during committee and oversight assignments and is one of those younger members of the House approach for help and advice when there is difficulty.
Tobun is a Master’s degree holder and he is also a good orator.
When this medium spoke with him recently during an exclusive interview whether he’s ready to vie for any principal office, he said, “getting any principal office is dependent on the arrangement by the leaders of the party. However, I can confidently state that, with all sense of modesty, I’m qualified and I have the capacity to hold any office in the House”.
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