Twenty-nine months after emerging as the Deputy Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Wasiu Eshilokun-Sanni, representing Lagos Island Constituency 1, on Monday took over his official quarters located at 3A Sasegbon Street, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.
The House of Assembly had last week ejected the former occupant of the building, Hon. Funmilayo Tejuosho, after sufficient quit notices dating back to over two years were ignored.
Tejuosho was nominated as Deputy Speaker of the House in 2007, but was impeached in 2009 for gross misconduct bordering on undermining the authority of the House as well as disrespect and violation of House rules.
Speaking while receiving the keys of the building, Eshilokun-Sanni recalled how the process started shortly after his emergence as Deputy Speaker on June 8, 2015, saying it was gratifying that the House had resolved the issue.
He said: “This building in particular was first allocated to me in 2015 after my emergence as the Deputy Speaker. I got a letter from the Clerk that the building has been allocated to me and I immediately got people from my office to go there and when they got there, they reported back to me that the place was presently occupied.
“So, I wrote to the House of Assembly that the building was occupied and a panel was set up, headed by the Majority Leader of the House, Hon Sanai Agunbiade, to look into the circumstances behind why I was unable to occupy the official residence of the Deputy Speaker.”
Eshinlokun-Sanni said the panel submitted its report to the House Clerk and the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, after which the then occupant was given time to vacate the premises.
After waiting for some time, Eshilokun-Sanni said the House and the Housing Board later gave Tejuosho seven days to vacate the premises officially allocated to the Deputy Speaker.
Speaking further, Eshilokun-Sanni said: “After waiting for more than two years, this year again, I was allocated the residence and asked to move in. I went there again and discovered that the occupant was still there. I reported and about three months ago, I was told to wait till November 1, 2017 for the residence to be handed over to me.
“On November 1, I went there and still found that the occupant was still there and I reported back to the House. It was after than that the House took action. The House of Assembly, specifically the Speaker and the Clerk, then approved that the illegal occupant of the building be ejected.”
He appreciated the parties involved, saying that the official take-over took so long because a lot of empathy, maturity, magnanimity and tenacity of purpose came into play.
The presentation of the keys officially to Eshilokun-Sanni was performed by Joseph Osho, the Deputy Director and Secretary, Staff Housing Board, Head of Service; and Chief Land Officer, Ministry of Housing, Oyewunmi Bamidele, and witnessed by the Clerk of the House, Sanni Azeez, as well as other Principal Officers of the Assembly.
But before the official handing over, there were accusations that policemen who invaded the house broke down doors and assaulted Tejuoso’s children and others.
In order to forcefully eject the occupants, the policemen were alleged to have used teargas on the children, who have remained in the house despite the seal up by the police on Friday.
They were also said to have disconnected electricity supply to the house.
The house was acquired by Tejuoso during the reign of Babatunde Fashola as Governor.
There is however a dispute on whether Tejuoso fully paid for the house in the name of a company she owns.
The policemen also put a signpost in front of the house calling it Deputy Speaker’s Residence.
However, no other deputy speaker had ever lived in the house before now, the occupants claimed.
It was said to have been sold to Tejuoso by the previous government under the monetization programme.
The two previous Deputy Speakers before Tejuoso were Farouk Oshodi and Toun Adediran, whilst the two after her were Bola Badmus and Kolawole Taiwo.
The source added: “None of them ever lived in the premises No. 3A, Sasegbon Street.
“A former Permanent Secretary for Budget, Mrs. Dawodu, handed the place over to Tejuoso and it was only a colonial building with wooden deck that was there then.
“The couple, Honourable Funmilayo Tejuoso and her husband, Kayode Tejuoso, built what is there presently.”