Femi Gbajabiamila nearly lost his job as chief of staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the Lagos State House of Assembly speakership crisis last year. Gbajabiamila made this disclosure on Thursday during the All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos.
He said the involvement of Desmond Elliot, lawmaker representing Surulere constituency 1 in the Lagos State House of Assembly, in the impeachment plot nearly led to his removal as Tinubu’s Chief of Staff.
Mudashiru Obasa was in January 2025, impeached as the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly after a majority of legislators accused him of gross misconduct and abuse of office.
Obasa was ousted while he was abroad, after which the then Deputy Speaker, Mojisola Meranda, was elected the first female Speaker of the House.
Upon returning to the country, Obasa rejected his impeachment and subsequently challenged it in court.
After 49 days in office, Meranda stepped down as Speaker, and Obasa was reinstated following Tinubu’s reported intervention.
The court would later nullify the proceedings and resolution of the Lagos Assembly, which led to Obasa’s ouster.
Narrated Gbajabiamila: “I almost lost my job as Chief of Staff last year because of Desmond Elliot. He’s alive today; you can go and verify with him”.
Gbajabiamila, who hails from Surulere constituency 1, said Tinubu summoned him to his Abuja residence during the Obasa impeachment saga and named Elliot among those behind the crisis in the Lagos State Assembly, but that he defended the lawmaker before speaking with him.
Gbajabiamila said after the meeting with Tinubu, he called and cautioned Elliot to extricate himself from the impeachment move if he was complicit.
The former Speaker of the House of Representatives said three days later, the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) called to inform him that there were allegations that he was backing Elliot in the impeachment scheme.
Said Gbajabiamila: “Of course, the President will not believe that Desmond will do such a thing, and I don’t know about it”.
Gbajabiamila said he again asked Elliot to publicly distance himself from the impeachment move, but the lawmaker declined.
Stated he: “If it were not that I had the kind of relationship I had with the President, I wouldn’t be here today”.
The President’s Chief of Staff accused Elliot of stoking religious tension in the Surulere constituency and causing division between the Muslims and the Christians.
Stakeholders in the Surulere chapter of the APC last week, alleged that Gbajamiamila was attempting to impose a preferred female aspirant for the Lagos State House of Assembly seat.
