Gbaja: Desmond Elliot’s role in Obasa impeachment nearly cost me my job

Femi Gbajabiamila says he nearly lost his job as chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu during the Lagos assembly speakership crisis last year. In January 2025, Mudashiru Obasa was impeached as the speaker of the Lagos state house of assembly after a majority of legislators accused him of gross misconduct and abuse of office.

Obasa was ousted while he was abroad, after which the then-deputy speaker, Mojisola Meranda, was elected the first female speaker of the house. Upon returning to the country, Obasa rejected his impeachment and subsequently challenged it in court.

After 49 days in office, Meranda stepped down as speaker, and Obasa was reinstated following Tinubu’s reported intervention. The court would later nullify the proceedings and resolution of the Lagos assembly, which led to Obasa’s ouster.

Gbajabiamila, who hails from Surulere constituency 1, said Tinubu summoned him to his Abuja residence during the Obasa impeachment saga and named Elliot among those behind the crisis in the Lagos assembly, but that he defended the lawmaker before speaking with him.

Gbajabiamila said after the meeting with Tinubu, he called and cautioned Elliot to extricate himself from the impeachment move if he was complicit.

The former speaker of the House of Representatives said three days later, the director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS) called to inform him that there were allegations that he was backing Elliot in the impeachment scheme.

“Of course, the president will not believe that Desmond will do such a thing, and I don’t know about it,” Gbajabiamila said. Gbajabiamila said he again asked Elliot to publicly distance himself from the impeachment move, but the lawmaker declined.

“If it were not that I had the kind of relationship I had with the president, I wouldn’t be here today,” Gbajabiamila said.