POLITICAL UNDERCURRENT IN NIGERIA’S POWER CORRIDORS
ABUJA, NIGERIA — In a stunning disclosure that underscores the volatile and highly interconnected nature of Nigerian politics, the Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has revealed how he narrowly escaped losing his prestigious job.
Speaking during a high-stakes meeting with stakeholders and members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the former Speaker of the House of Representatives laid bare the behind-the-scenes drama that threatened his political career.
According to Gbajabiamila, the crisis was triggered by the actions and alleged political maneuvers of Hon. Desmond Elliot, the high-profile actor-turned-politician representing Surulere Constituency 1 in the Lagos State House of Assembly.
The friction traced back to a period of intense political maneuvering within the Lagos State House of Assembly, specifically involving a coordinated push to impeach the long-serving Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa.
The Lagos Assembly, traditionally a bastion of stability for the ruling APC, found itself rocked by internal rebellion, fracturing loyalties, and intense intelligence gathering by the presidency. As the plots thickened, intelligence reports landing on the desk of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu began pointing fingers at specific instigators within the legislative chamber.
Chief among those flagged by presidential intelligence was Desmond Elliot, a political protégé of Gbajabiamila from the Surulere political base.
In a video that has since gone viral across social media platforms, Gbajabiamila recounted the tense moment President Tinubu directly confronted him over the escalating crisis in Lagos. The President, known for his deep political roots and vast intelligence network in Lagos State, did not mince words.
Recalling the President’s exact directive, Gbajabiamila stated:
"He [Desmond Elliot] is part of the people causing problems in the Lagos Assembly. I am telling you from intelligence that he was part of them. Go and tell him to retrace his steps."
The directive placed Gbajabiamila in an incredibly precarious position. As the Chief of Staff, his primary role is to manage the presidency and maintain absolute loyalty. However, as a political leader from Surulere, he felt an instinctive need to protect his constituent and political associate, even before verifying the facts.
Driven by a mix of reflex and loyalty, Gbajabiamila admitted that he immediately defended Elliot to the President, despite not having spoken to the lawmaker to ascertain his actual involvement in the anti-Obasa plot.
"I just said he wasn’t," the Chief of Staff confessed to the gathering of APC members, acknowledging that he had put his own reputation on the line based on an unverified assumption.
Following his tense conversation with the Commander-in-Chief, Gbajabiamila immediately reached out to Desmond Elliot to sound a note of warning. He made it clear to the lawmaker that his name was actively featuring in hostile intelligence briefs at the highest level of governance.
Gbajabiamila recounted telling Elliot:
"If you are part of these people, you need to get out of there immediately."
However, rather than taking a definitive and transparent step backward to de-escalate the situation, Elliot’s subsequent actions only exacerbated the crisis. Gbajabiamila noted with regret that the lawmaker "started cutting corners," engaging in evasive political maneuvers that failed to clear his name or calm the waters.
Within seventy-two hours, the situation spiraled further out of control. Rumors and internal party reports began circulating, directly linking Gbajabiamila to the rebellion in the Lagos Assembly. Because of his close political ties to Elliot, elements within the party began alleging that the Chief of Staff was secretly backing the lawmaker’s disruptive activities.
The optics were disastrous for Gbajabiamila. In the high-stakes arena of Nigerian politics, silence or perceived complicity can be fatal.
"Of course, the President will not believe Desmond would do such a thing and I would not know," Gbajabiamila explained, highlighting the administrative reality that a Chief of Staff is often held accountable for the political behavior of his immediate loyalists.
Desperate to salvage the situation and protect his standing with the President, Gbajabiamila intervened a second time. He contacted Elliot with an explicit instruction: issue an immediate, unambiguous public statement distancing himself from the impeachment saga and reaffirming his loyalty to the party's leadership structure.
Despite the gravity of the situation and the direct threat it posed to his mentor's career, Elliot reportedly failed to deliver a satisfactory response. "Nothing positive came out of it," Gbajabiamila remarked, expressing disappointment at the lawmaker’s failure to clear the air.
Ultimately, Gbajabiamila attributed his political survival not to political maneuvering, but to the deep, decades-long institutional relationship and mutual trust he shares with President Bola Tinubu.
Reflecting on how close he came to the political brink, Gbajabiamila concluded with a sobering reality check:
"If not for the kind of relationship I had with the President, I wouldn’t be here today."
The revelation has sent shockwaves through the APC, exposing the delicate balancing act required to manage state power, regional legislative loyalty, and personal relationships within the current administration.
As of the time of this report, Hon. Desmond Elliot has not released an official statement responding to the Chief of Staff’s public account of the events.
