When former Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, was removed from office on Monday, he was in far away Atlanta in Georgia.
Due to time difference, it was barely 6:00 a.m. in Atlanta, as of the time the former speaker was sacked by his colleagues in Lagos, Nigeria.
The Gazette quoting people familiar with his activities, reports that Obasa was relaxing in a family home after attending a conference of lawyers.
Obasa reportedly purchased the residence in nearby Lawrenceville, Georgia, in May 2019 for $424,742, per property according to The Gazette reports.
The property along Matt Springs Drive sits on 505 square feet of land. Initially purchased as a single-family home with four bathrooms and four bedrooms, the Obasas upgraded it to seven bedrooms and five baths, and it is now valued at $654,602, records said.
The Gazette says it has withheld the residence’s specific block number in deference to Mr Obasa’s family privacy.
Obasa also reportedly paid $40,000 in taxes on the property in 2024. That amount alone was at least five times Obasa’s annual statutory earnings as Lagos Speaker.
The suburban Atlanta property in Gwinnett County was acquired on May 23, 2019, during Obasa’s first term as Speaker. Its deed was completed in August 2019, weeks after he was sworn in for a second term.
“No one who is a public official in Nigeria makes the kind of money that Mudashiru Obasa spends on assets in the U.S., much less in Nigeria and other parts of the world,” anti-corruption campaigner Eric Okonkwo said. “It’s just him showing the world how far he can take public graft.”
