Lagos State House of Assembly member, Desmond Elliot, has explained his involvement in the impeachment of Speaker Mudashiru Obasa in January 2025, stating that he signed the impeachment document because lawmakers believed the move had presidential approval.
Elliot made the clarification during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Tuesday.
The actor-turned-politician was responding to comments made by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, who claimed Elliot nearly lost his political position over intelligence reports linking him to the impeachment plot.
Speaking during the interview, Elliot said he was outside Nigeria when the impeachment occurred and had travelled with his wife during the Assembly recess.
“I would like to state categorically that I wasn’t in the country. My wife and I travelled during the period of January 13th of 2025.
“We were in recess and then it was an opportunity for us to travel to attend my wife’s younger sister’s wedding,” he said.
According to Elliot, the impeachment of Obasa happened while he was in South Africa and initially came as a surprise to him.
“That was the time Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa was impeached by the Lagos State House of Assembly.
“It came to me as a shock because I was in South Africa then. So, obviously, it took me about two days to come back. I was also as confused as everybody was,” he said.
He explained that upon his return, he discovered that many lawmakers had already signed the impeachment document and that members of the Assembly believed the move had support from the presidency.
“And then I saw that almost everybody had signed. And pretty much we thought it was from the presidency. In all fairness, we thought it was from the presidency.
“And, of course, I appended my own signature. I believe I was maybe 30-something person at that point in time because others who had travelled had returned and others who signed,” Elliot added.
The lawmaker said the Assembly later received clarification from President Bola Tinubu that the impeachment was not authorised.
“But eventually, Mr President called us and made us understand that it was not from him and asked us to return the speaker.
“And we did,” he stated.
Reacting to Gbajabiamila’s comments, Elliot described the remarks as shocking considering their longstanding political relationship.
“So, my leader coming to say this, that I almost lost his job, one I have served and has also been there for me for this long, to have said that came to me as a shock,” he said.
The impeachment crisis involving Obasa began on January 13, 2025, when a majority of lawmakers in the Lagos State House of Assembly voted to remove him as Speaker while he was reportedly on vacation in the United States.
Lawmakers accused Obasa of gross misconduct, abuse of office, high-handedness, poor leadership, persistent lateness to plenary sessions, and alleged financial mismanagement of Assembly funds.
Following his removal, Deputy Speaker Mojisola Meranda was elected as Speaker, becoming the first woman to hold the position in the Assembly’s history.
Obasa, however, rejected the impeachment, describing it as illegal and unconstitutional while insisting that due process was not followed.
The political crisis later escalated into weeks of tension, legal disputes, and competing claims to the Assembly leadership before interventions by leaders of the All Progressives Congress and President Tinubu.
The crisis was eventually resolved after Meranda resigned, paving the way for Obasa’s reinstatement as Speaker of the Assembly.
