Desmond Elliot says he was out of Nigeria when the plot to impeach Mudashiru Obasa took shape in January 2025, but later signed the removal list after seeing that almost everyone else had already done so. The Lagos lawmaker said he believed the move had presidential backing until President Bola Tinubu called the lawmakers and told them otherwise.
Elliot, who represents Surulere Constituency I in the Lagos State House of Assembly, said he and his wife were in South Africa during the assembly recess for his in-law’s wedding when the crisis unfolded. He said he later appended his signature because he was “as confused as anybody was” and thought the push to remove Obasa was from the presidency.
The comments cast new light on one of the sharpest political fights in Lagos this year. Obasa was impeached in January 2025 over accusations of gross misconduct and abuse of office, and Mojisola Meranda was elected speaker in his place, becoming the first female speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
That shift did not last. After 49 days in office, Meranda stepped down and Obasa was reinstated after what lawmakers described as Tinubu’s intervention. Elliot said the lawmakers returned Obasa to the post after the president made clear the impeachment was not from him.
The saga was not just about one vote. The allegations around Obasa included high-handedness, poor leadership, persistent lateness to sessions and alleged financial mismanagement, and the fallout ran through weeks of tension, court cases, parallel claims to leadership and visits from APC national leaders and Tinubu. In that atmosphere, Elliot said he signed because he thought the move carried the president’s blessing, and only later understood that it did not.
His account also reopened the political cost for those involved. Elliot said Gbajabiamila told him he nearly lost his job because of Elliot’s role in the impeachment effort, a comment the lawmaker said shocked him given their relationship. Elliot said Gbajabiamila had spoken to him during the period and had not asked him to make any public statement, but he took the conversation back to the House.
The clearest answer now is that Elliot says he signed the removal list in error, not as part of a direct challenge to Tinubu’s authority. With Obasa back in the speaker’s chair and the assembly’s January split already settled by force of presidential intervention, the remaining question is less about who won than how deep the damage runs among the lawmakers who carried it out.
