The reinstated Clerk of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Olalekan Onafeko, has threatened a contempt suit against the acting Clerk of the House, Ottun Babatunde.
The development followed the drama that occurred at the Assembly complex on Wednesday when Onafeko was barred from entering the Clerk’s Office.
Onafeko was suspended by the House on January 13, the same day Mudashiru Obasa was removed by 36 of the 40 lawmakers sitting on the fateful day.
Obasa’s Deputy Speaker, Mojisola Meranda, was made the new Speaker by the lawmakers, a development that marked the beginning of a crisis at the House.
Like Obasa, Onafeko had approached an industrial court to challenge his suspension.
On February 20, the National Industrial Court sitting in Lagos sacked the acting clerk, Babatunde, who was appointed by Meranda. The court ordered the reinstatement of Onafeko.
The order followed an ex parte application to the court made by Onafeko through his counsel, Yusuf Nurudeen, in a case he filed against the Lagos State Government, Lagos State Civil Service Commission, Lagos State House of Assembly Service Commission, the Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Attorney-General of Lagos State and Babatunde.
The claimant in the suit marked: NICN/LA/23/2025, sought an interim injunction restraining the six defendants from parading any individual including Babatunde as the clerk pending the hearing of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction already filed in the suit.
Granting the application, Justice M. N. Esowe, in an ex parte order directed that Babatunde should cease to parade himself as Clerk.
“That both parties shall maintain the peace and status quo ante bellum until the motion on notice is heard and determined,” Esowe ordered.
On Wednesday, Onafeko arrived at the Assembly complex around 9 a.m., accompanied by his lawyer, security personnel, and individuals said to be operatives of the Department of State Services.
According to an eyewitness, Onafeko was advised by assembly officials to leave the premises peacefully as the matter was already before the court.
In an interview on Wednesday, the embattled clerk said he was humiliated at the assembly complex when he was barred from entry into the clerk’s office.
“I was barred and they prevented me from entering the office. Now we are having barricades, where people are subjected to humiliation before they can even enter the complex. I don’t know what they are turning the institution into. I have right to enter that place. I’m here to execute the court’s judgment.
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