Lawmaker representing Surulere 1 at the Lagos house of assembly, Desmond Elliot, has revealed that he believed the January 2025 move to impeach Mudashiru Obasa as Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly had the backing of President Bola Tinubu, admitting that lawmakers were left ‘confused’ throughout the political crisis.
Speaking on Tuesday during an interview, Elliot said he was surprised by recent comments made by Femi Gbajabiamila linking him to the impeachment plot against Obasa.
Obasa was removed as speaker in January 2025 after a majority of lawmakers accused him of gross misconduct and abuse of office while he was outside the country. Following his impeachment, former Deputy Speaker Mojisola Meranda emerged as the first female speaker of the assembly.
However, after 49 days in office, Meranda stepped down and Obasa was reinstated following reported intervention by Tinubu.
The controversy resurfaced after Gbajabiamila, while addressing stakeholders in Surulere, claimed he nearly lost his position in the presidency because of Elliot’s alleged involvement in the impeachment saga.
Gbajabiamila also said he had instructed Elliot to publicly distance himself from the plot, but that the lawmaker failed to do so.
Reacting to the remarks, Elliot said he was shocked that his political mentor revisited an issue he believed had already been resolved.
“I spoke with him (Gbajabiamila) during that period. He is my leader, he would always be my leader,” Elliot said.
“He spoke to me in that period and he never at any point in time asked me to make a public opinion… We spoke at that period and whatever he told me, I took to the house.”
The Surulere lawmaker explained that he was outside Nigeria when the impeachment plot gathered momentum, saying he had travelled to South Africa with his wife during the assembly’s recess for a family wedding.
“I wasn’t in the country. My wife and I travelled during the period of January 2025. We were on recess and it was an opportunity for us to travel,” he said.
According to Elliot, by the time he returned to Nigeria, most lawmakers had already signed the impeachment document against Obasa.
“I was also as confused as anybody was and then I saw that almost everyone had signed. And pretty much I thought it was from the president and I appended my own signature,” he said.
He added that Tinubu later met with the lawmakers and clarified that he did not authorise the impeachment move, directing the legislators to reinstate Obasa as speaker.
Elliot further disclosed that during the crisis, he informed Gbajabiamila that he could not abandon his colleagues without carrying a significant number of lawmakers along.
“We spoke at that period and whatever he told me, I took to the house, because I told him it would be cowardly of me to leave 36 people and move to another side without taking a chunk of people, so I told the chunk of people what I heard,” he said.
Describing the controversy as an issue that had already been settled, Elliot expressed surprise that Gbajabiamila chose to raise it again amid ongoing political tensions in Surulere.
“Because it is a matter that has been dead and buried, Mr. President said it is over, so for my leader to bring the issue up at this political time is quite surprising to me,” he said.
The political rift comes as Elliot seeks a fourth term in the Lagos assembly. Gbajabiamila has since endorsed Elliot’s challenger, Barakat Odunuga-Bakare, a former special adviser on housing to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
On May 15, Elliot publicly apologised to Gbajabiamila over the dispute.
Boluwatife Enome
