Obasa denies alleged discovery of firearms at Lagos assembly office

The ousted Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, has denied reports linking him to some firearms allegedly uncovered at his office.

Reports on Tuesday alleged that 47 pump-action guns were discovered by officials of the Department of State Services during a visit to the assembly on Monday.

Some versions of the reports claimed the weapons were found in Obasa’s office, while others suggested they were in the former Chief Security Officer’s office.

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In a statement released by his aide and signed by Obasa on Wednesday, the former Speaker described the report as a “concoction.”

The statement was titled Re: “DSS Uncovers Arms Cache In Obasa’s Office Day After Lagos Assembly Drama.”

He said, “The ill-conceived story, apart from being a complete concoction, clearly exposes its author and paymasters as maliciously of low intelligent quotient, only out to malign my hard-earned reputation spanning decades of political leadership and legislative hard work.

“The discovery, according to the story’s specious account, led to immediate notification of ‘the State Security Service, who in turn sent in their men to take inventory of the arms and also take them into custody while an investigation is scheduled on the development.

“From the foregoing, it is obviously discerning that my traducers are furtively attempting to call a dog a bad name just to hang it.”

He said it was of public knowledge that he travelled abroad around the end month of December and returned in January, by which time he had been removed, “a matter that is currently before the court of law for adjudication.”

“Immediately their sinister act was carried out while the House was on recess, my office (the Speaker’s Office), and the Assembly Chamber were forcefully broken into, and thoroughly ransacked by their assigned officers.

“I consider their purported sudden discovery of ‘cache of arms ammunition in the Speaker’s Office as nothing but an afterthought, having sensed the futility of their illegal actions,” Obasa added.

A source in the DSS had on Tuesday reported that the agency uncovered weapons at the assembly was false.