Desmond Elliot denies involvement in Obasa’s impeachment

The lawmaker representing Surulere I Constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly, Desmond Elliot, has denied allegations linking him to the impeachment of Speaker Mudashiru Obasa in 2025.

 

Elliot spoke on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, insisting that he neither initiated nor masterminded the move against the Speaker.

 

According to the actor-turned-politician, he was outside the country when Obasa was removed and only appended his signature to the impeachment document after returning to Nigeria and discovering that most lawmakers had already signed it.

 

“It was a topic that was already dead and buried. It was sorted out and the House is already moving on. Right Honourable Mudashiru Obasa continued as the Speaker of the House,” Elliot said.

 

“I did not mastermind anything. I had nothing at all. The only thing I did was to append my signature when I came back and I saw a bunch of us, if not all of us, had already appended a signature to say, ‘Oh, it was the party who wanted it.’”

 

He added that the situation later changed after President Bola Tinubu reportedly denied authorising the impeachment move.

 

“But eventually, the number one Asiwaju called and said, ‘I didn’t order that, I didn’t know anything about it,’” he stated.

 

Elliot’s comments followed remarks by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, who recently alleged that the lawmaker was among those involved in the controversial attempt to remove Obasa.

 

Gbajabiamila made the claim during an APC stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos last Thursday, where he reportedly said Elliot’s role in the crisis nearly cost him his political position.