Did you watch Atom Ant? What do you remember of Atom Ant? He is a small but extremely strong and durable fighter. He is intelligent, like ants are believed to be, but is also endowed with great speed. He is so fast that he moves faster than the bullet of a gun he shot. Atom Ant is a terror to anything that tempted to cause ripples in, or disrupt the smoothness of the universe—his universe. But he is a cartoon character. It is tiny, yes—as the typical ant should be. However, because it is an imaginary creation, it has been packed with atomic powers and could, therefore, fearlessly take on anybody. So, the ant with so much power that it could confidently take on any other power is a cartoon character. In this case, it is known as Atom Ant and, with cartoons, all things are imaginable and all is possible.
The cartoon ‘Atom Ant’ was one of our favourites in our younger days. In our era, TV stations commenced their transmission at 4 pm and shut down for the day at 10 pm. We loved it like that and also loved the Atom Ant so much that if, for any reason, you couldn’t see the day’s episode, just try to see only the montage and you would still be satisfied, even if only that was all you could see. If you check out the montage today – I think it is called ‘trailer’ nowadays—it would tell you all about Atom Ant. It was a later (1965) creation of Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera of the famous Hanna-Barbera Productions that earlier gave the world the evergreen Tom and Jerry.
Mr. Mudasiru Obasa, until Monday, January 13, 2025, the Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, was in the Atom Ant mould of unshakable. He was the legendary hero of the House of Assembly he took from Adeyemi Ikuforiji and was also the master of his game. As a political character in Lagos State, he was, in nearly all political conversations, like the indestructible Atom Ant. He said he was not perturbed by the shenanigans of his detractors, regardless of their statuses, and anyone among them who reared his or her head was dealt with accordingly. He was that powerful until Monday when it was efficiently proven to him and the bemused world that Atom Ant’s indestructibility was only a creation of some imaginative people.
Like the Atom Ant thrilled us back in the days and stuck in our memory, it might also stick in your own memory too and elicit themes that are different from what our younger minds thought we knew about the cartoon character. Atom Ant didn’t last beyond the imagination of its creators and so is Mudashiru Obasa. His run was brought to an abrupt end like a producer would a television series or any other broadcast programme.
Until Monday, January 13, 2025, Mudasiru Obasa wore the garb of invincibility. He wore it loudly too because he was classed among the powerful and untouchable princes of the Lagos political dynasty. This gave the world an imperious Obasa that didn’t look anything like the former Speakers of the Lagos House of Assembly in our memory of this political dispensation. All that is gone now; his time in our faces has been swung backwards like masqueraders do their outer costume.
Discerning Nigerians saw Obasa’s predicament coming. It was welling high like a tsunami but he didn’t see it unlike perceptive others. Perhaps, it could also be that it was only Obasa that didn’t see his looming fall coming. I saw his denouement when he caused a swirl in the Lagos political circles with his self-importance. That day, many people had ticked counted it for him and he was oblivious of the danger. In August 2023, Obasa’s House of Assembly rejected nearly half of the commissioner nominees Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu presented to the House of Assembly for confirmation as members of his cabinet. In rejecting the 17 out of the 39 commissioner-nominees, Obasa said in his majestic authority: “I am trying to protect my party and I will continue to do that. We are not going to sacrifice service to our people in the name of technocrats, no. We have said no and it remains so.” He said we should “get it right” that the members of the House of Assembly had their “constitutional responsibility” and had “exercised the responsibility by clearing some and denying some.” He also said those who were making comments “left and right” did not know the reasons the Assembly members did what they did.
Also about the commissioner nominees, he said: “They said we are placing politics ahead of technocrats. What technocrats? What do you mean by technocrat? Who is more technocrat than (we) in this hallowed chamber? It is not about qualifications; it is not about experience. It is not about exposure. We are the representatives of the people; the mouthpiece, the ears and the sight of the people. So, we know what we looked for. You may have this degree, you may have that degree; it may not be enough. We are given a responsibility by the constitution and we have done what we believe was the best in deciding…They talked about so many people, technocrats, technocrats; what do you mean by technocrats? I am a politician and I will remain a politician. I am not going to deny that. We must understand what a political party is. It is about a group of people who aspire to gain power, so we have the power since 1999 and we have to sustain it. We must protect our party. We’ve had technocrats in the past and these would come and go but we will remain.”
Sadly, Obasa was always at his cocky best when it is about Sanwo-Olu. He once narrated the trajectory of the governor of Lagos State in one of the outings and never thought he might be bringing the office into disrepute while denigrating the occupant. “Do I look like someone who can be threatened?” was a question that was meant for the governor. The same Obasa threw this shade at Sanwo-Olu: “The man living in the glass house not to throw stones. If he throws stones, the glass will be shattered.” It was also reported that he kept the governor waiting for a long time when he had gone to the House of Assembly.
These are more of graver impact on his political career than the allegations that he mismanaged funds. The allegations of corruption against him are not even in consideration here because it is trite among politicians to come up with such and hear humongous monetary figures thrown around when they try to paint out-of-favor politicians black. Also, not one of them in the same political loop with Obasa will honestly and competently claim to be cleaner than him in all matters around the handling affairs of the state. Even if Obasa was misunderstood, he has not helped himself to be understood because words misused often generate misleading thoughts, according to Herbert Spencer.
Obasa has a hand in whatever actions that might have led to his removal from his exalted office. He was warned by those who could that his Bata drum was getting taut and sounding pitches too high. All that might have led to the reported complaints of the powerful Governor’s Advisory Council in Lagos, and the group’s complaint to President Tinubu, who is the leader of the party he said he was protecting, are all his making. Obasa has fallen into the monkey’s ditch. In a bid to beautify the eyes of her child, he has ended up dipping her fingers in her eyes.
Today, Obasa is no longer the Number Three citizen of Lagos State. The powers that made him the Atom Ant have ended their romance with him. On another scale, his colleagues in the House of Assembly whom he led to denigrate Governor Sanwo-Olu, and which obviously also caused a disruption of the set-up of his government, have now abandoned him. Dr Lasisi Olagunju reminded him in September last year, in his Monday Lines column thus: “A bá ni dá kìí bá ni dé’bè… (the one who encourages one to sin never follows one to answer the charges).” I’m sure the ex-Speaker will now have the time to see those lowly people his haughty eyes overlooked, as he climbs down the ladder.
When the time comes, Nigerians will understand what really transpired.
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