I thought Tinubu approved Obasa’s removal — Desmond Elliot

Desmond Elliot, the Lagos State House of Assembly member for Surulere Constituency I, explained why he signed the impeachment notice against Speaker Mudashiru Obasa during the January 2025 leadership crisis.

In an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, the actor‑turned‑politician said he was abroad when the impeachment was carried out and believed the move had presidential backing.

Elliot’s comments followed accusations from President’s Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila, who claimed that intelligence reports linked him to the impeachment attempt and nearly cost him his position.

“I would like to state categorically that I wasn’t in the country. My wife and I travelled during the period of January 13th of 2025,” Elliot said. “We were in recess and then it was an opportunity for us to travel to attend my wife’s younger sister’s wedding.”

He said he was in South Africa when news of Obasa’s impeachment broke and that the development caught him off guard.

“That was the time Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa was impeached by the Lagos State House of Assembly. It came to me as a shock because I was in South Africa then. So, obviously, it took me about two days to come back. I was also as confused as everybody was,” Elliot added.

He noted that almost everyone had already signed the notice and that many lawmakers believed it had come from the presidency. “And pretty much we thought it was from the presidency. In all fairness, we thought it was from the presidency,” he said.

Elliot said he appended his own signature, estimating he was in his thirties at the time, while others who had travelled had returned and signed.

He disclosed that lawmakers later received clarification from President Bola Tinubu that the impeachment was not authorised by him.

“But eventually, Mr President called us and made us understand that it was not from him and asked us to return the speaker. And we did,” he added.

Reacting to Gbajabiamila’s accusation, Elliot said he was surprised by the comment given their longstanding political relationship.

“So, my leader (Gbajabiamila) coming to say this, that I almost lost his job, one I have served and has also been there for me for this long, to have said that came to me as a shock,” he said.

On January 13, 2025, the majority of lawmakers in the Lagos Assembly voted to remove Obasa as Speaker while he was reportedly on vacation in the United States. They accused him of gross misconduct, abuse of office, poor leadership style, persistent lateness to plenary sessions and alleged mismanagement of Assembly funds—allegations Obasa denied.

Following his removal, his deputy Mojisola Meranda was elected Speaker. After weeks of political tension, court actions and eventual interventions by leaders of the All Progressives Congress and Tinubu, Meranda was forced to step down and return to her position as deputy speaker while Obasa was reinstated as speaker.

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