"I ALMOST LOST MY JOB AS CHIEF OF STAFF BECAUSE OF DESMOND ELLIOT" - FEMI GBAJABIAMILA, CHIEF OF STAFF TO PRESIDENT TINUBU SAYS

Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, has revealed that he was personally summoned by the President and almost lost his position over allegations linking Surulere lawmaker Desmond Elliot to the crisis that rocked the Lagos State House of Assembly.

Gbajabiamila made the disclosure while reacting to reports that Elliot is insisting on returning to the Lagos Assembly for a fourth term, with APC primaries now seven days away.

According to the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, President Tinubu called him to his Abuja residence to discuss the Assembly crisis, the education department, and related political matters.

“He said, ‘I hear that Desmond is your boy — the one we gave to you,’” Gbajabiamila recalled. He said he defended Elliot, insisting the lawmaker had no role in the alleged plot destabilising the Assembly.

However, Gbajabiamila said the President maintained that intelligence reports implicated Elliot and directed him to warn the lawmaker to “retrace his steps”. He subsequently contacted Elliot and conveyed the President’s warning, urging him to distance himself from the crisis.

The matter escalated further when the Director-General of the Department of State Services allegedly informed Gbajabiamila that his own name was being mentioned in connection with Elliot’s alleged actions, with political circles suggesting the lawmaker could not have acted without his knowledge or backing.

“I called him again and told him to go and make a public statement that he was not part of it,” Gbajabiamila said.