Gbajabiamila Reveals Elliot's Role in Lagos Assembly Crisis

2027 Election Watch, Politics

Gbajabiamila Says Desmond Elliot Nearly Cost Him Tinubu Job

Gbajabiamila has detonated a fresh political storm in Lagos, alleging that Desmond Elliot’s reported role in the Obasa impeachment drama nearly cost him his job in the Presidency. The claim reopens the raw battle over loyalty, influence and control inside Lagos APC, and suggests the crisis reached far beyond the Assembly floor into Tinubu’s inner…

Atlantic Post

May 14, 2026

3–5 minutes

APC, Bola Tinubu, Desmond Elliot, Femi Gbajabiamila, Lagos Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa

Femi Gbajabiamila has thrown a fresh spotlight on the bruising power struggle that once tore through the Lagos State House of Assembly, claiming that actor-turned-lawmaker Desmond Elliot’s alleged role in the Obasa impeachment drama nearly cost him his job as Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu.

Speaking at an APC stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos on Thursday, Gbajabiamila said Tinubu confronted him directly after receiving intelligence reports that linked Elliot to the crisis, warning that the Surulere lawmaker should retrace his steps.

According to Gbajabiamila, the President called him to his study in Abuja during the height of the saga and raised alarm over Elliot’s alleged involvement.

His account was blunt and politically loaded. He said, “I almost lost my job as Chief of Staff last year because of Desmond Elliot,” before adding that Tinubu told him, “I hear this Desmond is your boy.”

Gbajabiamila said he tried to defend Elliot, but insisted the President had already been briefed from intelligence channels and asked him to call the lawmaker to order.

The revelation matters because it revives one of the most damaging internal crises to hit Lagos politics in recent years. On January 13, 2025, 32 lawmakers removed Mudashiru Obasa as Speaker over allegations of gross misconduct and abuse of office, with Mojisola Meranda briefly taking over the chamber’s leadership.

The crisis deepened for weeks until Tinubu’s intervention and a mediating panel led by senior APC figures forced a reversal that eventually brought Obasa back to the speakership.

The matter did not end there. In April 2025, the Lagos High Court in Ikeja ruled that Obasa’s removal was illegal and unconstitutional, voiding the proceedings and resolutions of the House that had ousted him.

That judgment gave legal weight to what had already become a ferocious political battle, turning the Assembly crisis into a test of discipline, loyalty and the limits of factional warfare inside Lagos APC politics.

Gbajabiamila’s latest account suggests that the fallout from that crisis was not just institutional but personal. He said that after speaking to Tinubu, he called Elliot and warned him to step back if he had any hand in the unrest.

He also said the Director-General of the Department of State Services later phoned him to say his name was being mentioned in connection with the plot.

In his telling, he had to defend himself twice, first before the President and then before the security services, to prove he was not behind the turmoil.

That is a politically sensitive claim in a system where proximity to power is often read as influence and influence is often mistaken for control.

Gbajabiamila, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, remains one of Tinubu’s most trusted aides, and his account reinforces how closely the President monitors the Lagos political machine.

It also underlines a recurring theme in the state’s politics: when rival camps turn on one another, even established allies can suddenly find themselves under suspicion.

Elliot, however, is not publicly framing the matter as a rupture. Only days before Gbajabiamila’s latest remarks, he dismissed talk of a feud with the Chief of Staff as he sought another term in the Lagos Assembly.

He said, “I don’t have any issue with him,” and described Gbajabiamila as “our leader”, while also asking for another chance to continue in office. That denial sits uneasily beside the renewed scrutiny over his political conduct and the continuing debate around his future in Surulere.

The timing is important. Elliot’s fourth-term ambition has already stirred resistance among some stakeholders, while his name now sits at the centre of a story that links local ward politics to the presidential villa.

In Lagos politics, where patronage, loyalty and succession battles are rarely separate things, Gbajabiamila’s disclosure reads less like a casual reminiscence than a warning shot.

It suggests that the Obasa affair was not merely an Assembly squabble, but a stress test for the entire Tinubu political structure in Lagos.

In the end, Gbajabiamila’s comments do more than reopen an old wound. They expose how quickly internal party manoeuvres can escalate into presidential concern, security alerts and public suspicion.

They also place Desmond Elliot, once seen as a loyal political beneficiary of the Lagos structure, back under the harsh glare of political accountability. And they remind Lagos APC loyalists that in a state built on tight elite management, even a whisper of disloyalty can become a career-threatening crisis.