By Dr Segun Awosanya
Your Excellency,
Your legacy as a nation-builder is evident in the champions you have nurtured and the robust systems you have established. Under your guidance, many have risen to positions of leadership, proving themselves as battle-tested public servants.
However, even the most established systems face challenges when individual character (blind ambition) threatens collective harmony. SELF-discipline and respect for Decency and those values that are dear to our people, including leaders and elders, among whom you are numbered must remain sacrosanct. The Lagos State House of Assembly has long been celebrated for its autonomy and efficient self-governance. Recent events, however, have led to a speculation that threatens to undermine this hard-earned reputation and the carefully cultivated relationships between the Governance Advisory Council (GAC), grassroots leaders, and other vital stakeholders.
The unanimous decision regarding the former Speaker reflects a watershed moment —not an act of defiance, but rather a necessary response to a deteriorating situation. Reports suggest that under the previous leadership, many Assembly members endured systematic marginalization, intimidation, and financial exclusion. Basic legislative functions, including oversight of capital projects, became privileges rather than standard responsibilities.
Permit me Your Excellency to humbly reiterate based on my understanding of years of monitoring the trajectory of the leadership even from the labor room of the birth of the merger of the APC, where I evidently served as a strategist to the Chairman of the committee, that you have always led the way when the majority seek your leadership as it is in this case. A great father that you are will not ignore the outcry of 37 kids to pacify one who, going by all indications, including public opinions, has abused the unique privilege he got from you.
The emergence of new leadership represents an opportunity for renewal and restoration of democratic principles within the Assembly. The current consensus, achieved through considerable deliberation, should be respected. Given Lagos’s delicate political climate following recent elections, maintaining this unity is paramount.
Your Excellency, your political progeny remain steadfast in their loyalty and respect for your guidance. However, this particular situation calls for allowing the new leadership to stabilize the House while ensuring future compliance with party directives.
The resolution reached serves as both a corrective measure and a future deterrent against power abuse. Preserving this outcome would reinforce the principles of democratic governance that you have long championed.
May The Good Lord continue to endow you with His divine wisdom that never fails.
With profound respect,
—Dr Segun Awosanya (Segalink)
