Femi Gbajabiamila said on Thursday that he nearly lost his job as chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu during the Obasa impeachment crisis in the Lagos State House of Assembly last year, blaming the turmoil in part on Desmond Elliot.
Speaking at an APC stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos, Gbajabiamila said Tinubu summoned him to his Abuja residence during the dispute and told him Elliot was among those behind it. He said he called Elliot and warned him to extricate himself from the move if he was involved, adding that the lawmaker did not publicly distance himself.
The remarks reopened one of the most turbulent episodes in Lagos politics this year. Mudashiru Obasa was impeached in January 2025 after majority lawmakers accused him of gross misconduct and abuse of office, and he was ousted while abroad. Mojisola Meranda was then elected the first female speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
Obasa rejected the impeachment after returning to Nigeria and challenged it in court. Meranda later stepped down after 49 days in office, and Obasa was reinstated following Tinubu’s reported intervention. A court later nullified the proceedings and resolution that had led to his removal.
Gbajabiamila said the pressure on him intensified after he spoke to Elliot, who represents Surulere constituency 1 in the Lagos Assembly. He said the director-general of the Department of State Services called him three days later with allegations that he was backing Elliot in the impeachment scheme, and he accused Elliot of stoking religious tension in Surulere and dividing Muslims and Christians.
Gbajabiamila, who once represented Surulere constituency 1 in the House of Representatives before becoming Tinubu’s chief of staff, said his ties to the president helped keep him in place. “If not for the kind of relationship I have with the President today, I probably would not still be here as Chief of Staff,” he said.
The exchange shows how quickly the Lagos Assembly fight spread beyond the chamber itself, pulling in senior party figures, the security services and long-running local alliances in Surulere. What remains now is whether the political damage from the impeachment fight has truly faded, or whether Thursday’s remarks will drag it back into the open again.
