Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun has indefinitely extended the withdrawal of security detail to Lagos traditional rulers Omogbolahan Oniru and Saheed Elegushi, Peoples Gazette can report.
Three sources who separately provided details of the matter to The Gazette over the weekend said President Bola Tinubu authorised Mr Egbetokun to keep withholding government-provided security to the monarchs after being told that Messrs Oniru and Elegushi backed Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in the controversial impeachment of Mudashiru Obasa as the Speaker of Lagos House of Assembly in January.
The president, our sources said, was incensed that Mr Sanwo-Olu mismanaged the increasingly fragile Lagos politics when he failed to contain errant lawmakers before Mr Obasa’s January 13 removal, vowing to punish not just the governor but all those who coopted the scheme.
The Gazette observed over the weekend that police vans that once marked an intimidating fixture outside the palaces of Messrs Oniru and Elegushi were no longer there.
“Kabiyesi Oniru has already hired private security guards and shared brand new suits to them so they can look like SSS agents in their outfit,” a source close to Oniru Palace told The Gazette over the weekend. “He has to do this because he doesn’t know when his government security would be reinstated — the president is still very angry right now.”
While constitutional guardrails hampered Mr Tinubu’s ability to easily punish Mr Sanwo-Olu as an incumbent governor, the president has already moved to hold those who worked with the Lagos chief executive accountable for what he saw as their reckless behaviour, sources said.
“The president has authorised the police IG to continue suspension of security officers to both Oniru and Elegushi,” a source familiar with the matter told The Gazette over the weekend. “They both brought this unto themselves for allowing themselves to be used by Governor Sanwo-Olu.”
Mr Sanwo-Olu’s ally Aisha Achimugu has been the target of a corruption inquiry after the president learnt that funds from the Lagos governor had been traced to the political opposition, The Gazette reported recently.
Specifically, the president said Messrs Oniru and Elegushi should have known not to take Mr Sanwo-Olu’s words just for their sake. He believed both monarchs should have demurred when Mr Sanwo-Olu told them he had presidential approval to discard Mr Obasa, whose political organising prowess has earned him an outsize influence in Lagos politics.
“The president said Elegushi and Oniru should have contacted his office to confirm whether or not he supported the impeachment,” a top aide said. “They should take responsibility for failing to do that minor due diligence.”
Mr Obasa was impeached on January 13 after The Gazette ran a story exposing the top lawmaker’s corruption and abuse of power. He denied the corruption allegations after his impeachment, which came as he was travelling in Atlanta. Mojisola Lasbat Meranda was immediately sworn in as a replacement, becoming the first female Speaker of the Lagos legislature.
After a messy back-and-forth that trailed his impeachment, Mr Obasa was eventually reinstated on March 3 on the president’s order. The Gazette reported the president’s directive to lawmakers for Mr Obasa’s return weeks earlier. For weeks, Lagos lawmakers disregarded the president’s directive to promptly return Mr Obasa to power, a defiance now widely believed to have been incentivised by Mr Sanwo-Olu, stoking the president’s sense of betrayal.
Although Mr Sanwo-Olu denied involvement in Mr Obasa’s ordeal and attributed his impeachment strictly to the decision of the House of Assembly, The Gazette was told the governor allegedly bribed lawmakers to execute the impeachment. The Gazette also reported how Mr Tinubu snubbed Mr Sanwo-Olu in the aftermath of the process and refused to attend to lawmakers and other parties who travelled to Abuja to have a meeting with him.
Mr Tinubu also avoided a trip to Lagos for an event Mr Sanwo-Olu had organised as part of the president’s 73rd birthday jamboree because he suspected the governor had teed up a contingent of traditional rulers across the South-West to mediate the escalating conflict.
“The president has been fully aware of the governor’s desperate efforts to settle the matter by bringing different Yoruba traditional rulers to Lagos to intercede on his behalf,” a top Lagos politician who helped play a role in coordinating the botched meetings told The Gazette on Sunday. The politician spoke anonymously to avoid being seen as disparaging the governor in the press, fearing it could damage their relationship.
Mr Tinubu’s anxiety over Mr Sanwo-Olu’s capricious conduct in recent months was fueled by his loss of Lagos to Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential elections. The president said even though he ultimately prevailed in the exercise, he might not be so lucky in 2027 should he lose his home state again.
As a longstanding grassroots organiser, Mr Obasa has been widely seen as critical to Mr Tinubu’s plan to win Lagos in 2027 and maintain his decades-long grip on the state perpetually.
“Governor Sanwo-Olu knows how important Agege is to Asiwaju before lying to the lawmakers and bribing them to remove a man the president likes as the leader of the parliament,” the official added under anonymity to discuss internal issues between the president and his political allies.
The president also decided to punish Messrs Oniru and Elegushi because the traditional rulers, especially the duo with Oba of Lagos, have amassed influence as part of the contemporary ruling elite in Lagos.
Ordinarily, the stools Messrs Oniru and Elegushi hold little historical relevance to Lagosians of Yoruba origin, but they’ve gained prominence in recent years due to Mr Tinubu’s benevolence. Both monarchs are accorded deference over the pricey swathes of coastal assets east of Lagos, even though traditional rulers have no constitutional role in land administration, which is reserved for state governments only, with limited authority for the federal government.
A spokesman for Mr Oniru absolved the monarch of any wrongdoing in the political crisis still dogging Lagos weeks after Mr Obasa was reinstated, saying his only involvement came by way of his blood ties to Ms Meranda, who was the primary beneficiary in Mr Obasa’s short-lived ouster.
“His Royal Majesty is a traditional ruler and not a politician. He is not involved in any political machinations regarding the business of the Lagos House of Assembly,” Mr Oniru’s spokesman Hakeem Akintoye told The Gazette. “It is a mere providence and coincidence that one of the principal officers of the assembly is Kabiyesi’s blood sister.”
Mr Akintoye said Mr Oniru has been focused on improving the welfare of his people and all Nigerians while protecting and promoting the cultural heritage of Iru Kingdom.
Mr Elegushi falsely claimed there were no issues with his security, but The Gazette is privy to his desperate efforts to regain his detail.
A presidential spokesman said he was not aware of Mr Tinubu’s anger or retaliation towards the traditional rulers. A spokesman for Mr Sanwo-Olu did not return The Gazette’s request seeking comments. A spokesman for the Force Headquarters declined comments.
Messrs Oniru and Elegushi have enjoyed smooth relationships with Mr Tinubu, unarguably the political godfather in the country’s commercial hub. As part of their appreciation to the president for his generosity, both traditional leaders have reportedly been allocating choice lands to Gilbert Chagoury, Mr Tinubu’s business henchman and convicted money launderer, especially along the Lagos coast.
In March, The Gazette reported Mr Tinubu awarded a N1.1 trillion Lagos port project to Mr Chagoury’s Hi-Tech company, aside from the controversial $11 billion Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project awarded to the company in 2024, despite widespread opposition from Nigerians.
Mr Tinubu has established a firm grip on Lagos since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999. He was Lagos governor from 1999 to 2007 and has single-handedly selected all his successors ever since. To maintain his hold, Mr Tinubu believed Mr Obasa, who was first elected into the Lagos House of Assembly in 2007, has been useful.
The president has told allies that losing Mr Obasa would frustrate his grip on Lagos, driving his resistance to replace the Agege politician even 10 years after he first emerged as Lagos Speaker.
“The president wants to maintain a permanent grip on Lagos politics, and he sees Mudashiru Obasa as almost indispensable in achieving that aim, especially in the critical Agege-Alimosho axis”, a senior presidential aide said.
(Peoples Gazette)
