Lagos State House of Assembly now under scrutiny after its running costs are found to total almost $80m

MEMBERS of the Lagos State House of Assembly have come under scrutiny after it emerged that their running costs add up to N28.8bn ($79.15m) under the tenure of current speaker Hon Mudashiru Obasa.

Last week, assembly members debated initiating impeachments proceedings against Governor Akinwunmi Ambode amid suggestions that he was spending money without recourse to the assembly. In a debate led by Hon Sanai Agunbiade, the majority leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly, it was alleged that the governor was engaged in spending money without getting the approval of legislators.

Hon Agunbiade, who also accused the governor of not presenting the 2019 budget before the house for approval as is the usual tradition, said Governor Ambode should either resign or be impeached for these infractions.  However, the development appears to have backfired as it is rumoured that assembly members are unhappy with Governor Ambode because he refused to bankroll their election campaigns.

Now, it has emerged that the assembly has been spending money extravagantly, putting the assembly under the spotlight. Already, a five-day ultimatum has been given to the lawmakers by civil society organisation Legislative Probity and Accountability (PLA), demanding that they account for the N28.8bn running costs.

According to the PLA, should the house fail to respond to the allegations, it would use all legal instruments to compel it to do so. Unfortunately for the Lagos State House of Assembly, their threat to impeach Governor Ambode has attracted a lot of sympathy for him and they are now the ones being seen as corrupt.

Their move is seen as politics with the lawmakers viewed as principal actors that are using their area of influence to achieve a pre-conceived result. It is believed in political circles that they intended to render the government worthless over the coming weeks in the run-up to the March 3 gubernatorial elections.

At the heart of the matter are several conditions allegedly given to the governor, which he considered unrealistic in the interest of the state.  Prominent among the alleged conditions was the order to stop all projects he was working on before the governorship election primary, which Governor Ambode has rejected.