Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) have seized a cache of pump action rifles in the office of the chief security officer (CSO) to Mudashiru Obasa, the ousted speaker of the house of assembly, sources said.
The pump action rifles were discovered during a routine “sweeping exercise”, a member of the assembly said, adding that live cartridges were also found.
However, an associate of the former speaker has told newsmen that it is a “smear campaign” to prevent Obasa from returning to his office.
Obasa is insisting that his removal as speaker was illegal and that he remains the state’s No 3 citizen.
“Assembly officials discovered a stack of arms neatly kept somewhere in the speaker’s CSO’s office,” another source said.
“They immediately alerted the DSS, who in turn sent in their men to take inventory of the arms and also take them into custody ahead of investigation.”
There are various theories around the huge find, including insinuations of arms dealing because of the size of the inventory.
A member said Obasa is “desperate to return to his office at the assembly” in order to “tidy things up”.
“The new and responsible assembly leadership has played its part in all of this, the rest is left for the DSS and other relevant authorities to also play theirs. If this is swept under the carpet, then Lagos and Nigerians will see where all of these is coming from,” he said.
“When we tell the public that the assembly has had enough of Obasa, people don’t really have a grasp of that message.
“We are even more convinced that our leader, President Bola Tinubu, is not in support of his excesses and his resolve to undermine democracy in the state. But we want the public to see this and understand what we are dealing with as a body.”
Obasa has yet to comment at the time of filing this report.
