Damilola Olufemi
The Clerk of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Olalekan Onafeko, has threatened to take legal action against Speaker Mojisola Meranda through his lawyers for contempt of court.
This followed the verdict by Justice M.N Esowe of the National Industrial Court reinstating Onafeko and ordered Babatunde Ottun, who was appointed to replace Onafeko to stop identifying himself as the Clerk until substantive case is settled.
Onafeko was removed as Clerk of the House on January 13, 2025.
His removal followed the impeachment of former Speaker Mudashiru Obasa.
Meanwhile, Speaker Meranda’s alleged non-compliance with the court’s order has prompted Onafeko’s lawyers to consider pursuing contempt proceedings against her.
In an attempt by the legal team of Onafeko to enforce the court verdict, they were unable to access his office as it had been padlocked.
A member of the legal team, Barrister Yusuf Nurudeen, while speaking to the press, noted that such an act leads to contempt of court.
He said: “We are here this morning to give effect to the order of the court made on the 19th of February 2025. The court by Honourable Justice Maureen Nkechinyereuho Esowe of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), sitting in Lagos, has ordered that Olalekan Onafeko, resume his office as the Clerk of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
“That order was made, and we have served the order on the House of Assembly duly acknowledged by the House of Assembly.
“We are here today to give effect to the order of the court. We got here this morning. We were not welcomed, but the office is not open. As law-abiding citizens, we have to leave and look for another day to come back because we need to effect that order of court.
The legal professional stated that Onafeko, a civil servant of up to 30 years in service, has served the Lagos State government meritoriously with several letters of recommendations and promotions till he was appointed the Clerk of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
“So you can’t just by a motion of one honourable who has not even put five years, 10 years into the service of Lagos State government, just wake up and say you are suspending someone for financial misappropriation without any letter stating what he has done at any point in time.
“Today makes it about 40-something days no letter has been served on him for any infractions he has committed in service of Lagos State government.
“We don’t know why this is going on, and that’s why we are here this morning to give effect to the order of the court. He is a civil servant, and there are rules and procedures under the Lagos State Public Service 2015, where someone who is on level 13 should be suspended or be dealt with. None of these things have been abided by.”
He added that the Speaker would be sued for contempt for disobeying court order.
He said, “They have joined issues with us in court, they have filed their processes, they have engaged lawyers including a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), they should interpret the law for them and its consequences.”
