Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Lagos lawmaker and Nollywood actor Desmond Elliot has alleged that several local government workers have been fired for supporting his re-election bid, as he raised the alarm over widespread intimidation and coercion ahead of the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Assembly primaries in Surulere Constituency I.
In a video posted on his X handle on Sunday, Elliot accused unnamed party leaders and local government officials of threatening party members with exclusion from empowerment programmes and openly backing a preferred aspirant months before the May 20, 2026, primary election. “We’ve been intimidated so much so that a lot of people from the local government have been fired because they follow me,” the lawmaker said. “That should not be allowed.”
Elliot, first elected to the Lagos Assembly in 2015 and now seeking a fourth term, also claimed that his security personnel were withdrawn under unclear circumstances. “My security personnel was taken away from me yesterday for reasons best known to them,” he said. “Now I am left alone to myself. What have I done?”
The actor‑turned‑politician further accused the local government leadership of openly siding with another aspirant months before the primaries, a development he said he had initially chosen to overlook. “Intimidation, coercion, arm twisting and forcing people to follow their own candidate is what is existing today in Surulere,” Elliot said. He appealed to APC leaders to investigate the matter and ensure a peaceful, transparent exercise, warning against any attempt to import thugs or cause violence.
Elliot’s allegations came just days after the Director‑General of his own campaign organisation, Bless Koye, withdrew his support and declared for the rival aspirant Barakat Odunuga‑Bakare, a move signalling a possible crack within the political structure backing the lawmaker.
The lawmaker’s public outburst also follows a dramatic fallout with his long‑time political mentor, Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu. In a separate revelation, Gbajabiamila disclosed that President Tinubu had confronted him over intelligence reports linking Elliot to the 2025 impeachment plot against former Lagos Assembly Speaker Mudashiru Obasa. “I almost lost my job as Chief of Staff last year because of Desmond Elliot,” Gbajabiamila told a stakeholders’ meeting, admitting that he defended his protégé before verifying the facts. The rift became public after Elliot publicly apologised to Gbajabiamila on TVC’s Your View programme, describing the Chief of Staff as his “egbon” and saying, “I’m sorry, my daddy, if I’ve offended you in any way.”
At an earlier ward tour in Surulere, Elliot had downplayed any rift, saying, “Our leader is a compassionate leader. Children sometimes err. If I have erred in any way, my leader, I am sorry. Give me another chance.” However, Gbajabiamila’s subsequent remarks laid bare a deep fracture, with the Chief of Staff accusing Elliot of stoking religious tension and failing to publicly distance himself from the impeachment plot.
Despite the mounting pressure and the withdrawal of his campaign DG, Elliot has insisted on his grassroots popularity and his commitment to party unity. “I will throw my support behind the winner if I lose, but please let it be under a free and fair election,” he said.
The APC primary in Surulere is scheduled for May 20, 2026.
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