Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour (GRV) of the Labour Party (LP) has condemned the desecration of the Lagos State House of Assembly, which he described as a show of shame exhibited by members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

“The APC has sort of normalised this idea of using intimidation and force to get their way, and that is what we say today,” the Lagos LP 2023 governorship candidate said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday.

“An attempt to intimidate the speaker to resign and step aside using armed men and the threat of violence, and that is unacceptable,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, armed security officers drawn from the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services stormed the hallowed chamber, preventing the Speaker, Mojisola Meranda, from gaining entrance till hours later. When she finally presided over plenary, she became tearful and emotional as lawmakers passed a vote of confidence in her.

The state legislature has been embroiled in a leadership tussle for weeks following the removal of Mudashiru Obasa as the speaker of the Assembly and the election of Meranda.

While over 32 pro-Meranda lawmakers in the 40-member Assembly pledged loyalty to the first female speaker, Obasa has insisted that his removal was illegal and has gone to court to challenge the process.

The former LP governorship candidate condemned the invasion of the state assembly by armed security officials and asked President Bola Tinubu and the APC Governors’ Advisory Council (GAC) in Lagos to caution Obasa.

Rhodes-Vivour said, “His (Obasa’s) leaders in the GAC, the president, should call him to order. Lagos State has advanced way past. We don’t want to go to new lows. There are civilised ways to handle these things. His party should call him to order.”

He described the drama at the assembly complex as an assault on the legislature, saying that anybody trying to capture the leadership of the House for whatever political interest should be ashamed.

“Armed men coming into the assembly is a big low and a disgrace to our politics in Lagos. It’s completely disgraceful,” he said.

It’s unfortunate that all the allegations that were brought before the former speaker, all sorts of corruption allegations, we have not seen anything come out of it,” he said, even as he called on anti-graft agency EFCC to probe the allegations against Obasa.